DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0090
62
DARDANELLES.
[Chap. iv.
they might themselves get back to shore. It was only of
late that the Porte had taken off the prohibition against
Turks and Rayahs going by the steamers: at first, indeed,
the government promised every possible encouragement,
but afterwards, with its usual vacillation and jealousy, for-
bade its subjects making any use of them.
At dinner we were joined by a few of the principal Turks,
several of whom seemed disposed to take more than the
Prophet's allowance of the forbidden liquor, particularly a
young Bimbachi or colonel, who, with another companion,
having once broken the ice, was getting rather boisterous
and troublesome. Their mirth, however, was soon disturbed
by an alarm of the ship being on fire. A general rush was
made on deck, when it appeared that a large bundle of tow
intended for the use of the machinery had caught fire, in
consequence of the negligence of a Turk, who had knocked
out the ashes of his pipe into it, but had been immediately
extinguished. The alarm and terror of the Turks exceeded
all belief; Kismet and predestination were entirely for-
gotten, and they ran about the decks stupefied by fear.
Many of them rushed into the long boat hanging at the
quarter, and were on the point of lowering it into the water,
in which case they must have been inevitably drowned;
others were for running the ship ashore, where she must
have struck upon a reef of rocks. Shouts of "a terra, a
terra !" resounded on all sides, and I was assailed with cries
of " dite al capitano che vada a terra." Some of the chiefs
offered a large sum of money to be landed at Gallipoli.
They were alarmed too by the darkness of the night, when
the Turks invariably come to an anchor in their own boats.
The gale continued through the night, and the following
day we were ploughing our way through the Sea of Mar-
mora, contending with adverse winds; the hills on the
Asiatic coast being covered with snow to the water's edge.
At length, after rounding the point of S. Stephano, we
caught the first faint glimpse of the minarets of Sta. Sophia,
and the neighbouring mosque of Sultan Achmet; but on
DARDANELLES.
[Chap. iv.
they might themselves get back to shore. It was only of
late that the Porte had taken off the prohibition against
Turks and Rayahs going by the steamers: at first, indeed,
the government promised every possible encouragement,
but afterwards, with its usual vacillation and jealousy, for-
bade its subjects making any use of them.
At dinner we were joined by a few of the principal Turks,
several of whom seemed disposed to take more than the
Prophet's allowance of the forbidden liquor, particularly a
young Bimbachi or colonel, who, with another companion,
having once broken the ice, was getting rather boisterous
and troublesome. Their mirth, however, was soon disturbed
by an alarm of the ship being on fire. A general rush was
made on deck, when it appeared that a large bundle of tow
intended for the use of the machinery had caught fire, in
consequence of the negligence of a Turk, who had knocked
out the ashes of his pipe into it, but had been immediately
extinguished. The alarm and terror of the Turks exceeded
all belief; Kismet and predestination were entirely for-
gotten, and they ran about the decks stupefied by fear.
Many of them rushed into the long boat hanging at the
quarter, and were on the point of lowering it into the water,
in which case they must have been inevitably drowned;
others were for running the ship ashore, where she must
have struck upon a reef of rocks. Shouts of "a terra, a
terra !" resounded on all sides, and I was assailed with cries
of " dite al capitano che vada a terra." Some of the chiefs
offered a large sum of money to be landed at Gallipoli.
They were alarmed too by the darkness of the night, when
the Turks invariably come to an anchor in their own boats.
The gale continued through the night, and the following
day we were ploughing our way through the Sea of Mar-
mora, contending with adverse winds; the hills on the
Asiatic coast being covered with snow to the water's edge.
At length, after rounding the point of S. Stephano, we
caught the first faint glimpse of the minarets of Sta. Sophia,
and the neighbouring mosque of Sultan Achmet; but on