Sea transportation in Istanbul has always been one of the essential parts of public transportation. Until the mid-19th century when ferry transportation began to improve, in the Ottoman times people used to travel by boats, pereme (a type of boat similar to gondola), or barges within the city and to nearby areas. The social and economic changes in the Ottoman Empire and the expansion of the summer-house lifestyle in the 19th century increased the need for sea transportation in the Bosphorus, which the small boats were unable to meet. With the purchase of the first steam ship in 1827, the Ottoman Empire laid the groundwork for the ferry industry.
Purchased by the Imperial Arsenal during the reign of Mahmud II, this ferry (named Swift) was known as “ the steam ship” among people. Later, in 1838, two ferries named Mesir-i Bahri and Eser-i Hayır (which belonged to the Imperial Arsenal, and where the first steam ships with the Ottoman ensign to carry people and goods in Ottoman waters) started sailing - the former in Istanbul, and the latter between Istanbul, Bandırma, Izmit, and Tekirdağ in the Marmara Sea. The increasing demand for ferries in the Bosphorus resulted in the necessity for a steam ship establishment which would conduct passenger transportation in a safe and comfortable way; that’s how Şirket-i Hayriye was founded in 1851. The first incorporated establishment in the Ottoman Empire, Şirket-i Hayriye was bought by the state in 1945 but continued to carry passengers around Istanbul until it was passed over to City Lines. The transfer of all rights of Şirket-i Hayriye to City Lines gathered the ferry transportation in Istanbul under one organisation.
SOURCE
Mavi Boncuk |
19th century was the century of modernization for the entire world and for the TheOttoman Empire. Especially, with the reign of Sultan Mahmud II and the Tanzimat, rapid modernization made its mark. The key concept was centralization and centralization required rapid access to every corner of empire. Transport and communications were the tools of physical centralization. Industrial revolution of 19th century elevated both to a degree of efficiency never seen before. The most revolutionary technological breakthrough was the steam engine on both land and sea. Railroads connected continents into a web of such speed that, from for example, Istanbul to Hejaz was accessible in just a month or so. However, the first field where the steam engine was employed was the nautical technology. In 1802, the first mechanically successful steamship, the Charlotte Dundas was built in Britain and in 1807, the first commercially successful steamer, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamer, started to work in USA. About 20 years later, Steamship made its entry to the The Ottoman Empire.In the subsequent decades, it revolutionized the Ottoman coasts and more importantly, became a key tool of empire’s integration to the world system.
Despite all their dependence to the sea, Ottomans, in the mercantile field, were not a maritime state. Ottoman classical economy was designed according to “provisionism” principle, which aimed to prevent famine and ensure self-sufficiency of provinces. The obsession with the abundance of raw materials led to an official encouragement of import and discouragement of export, thus severely limiting the Ottoman flagged shipping in the age of mercantilism. However, with the increased autonomy of provinces from 17th century on and especially in 18th century; number of ships run by Ottoman subjects showed a considerable increase. Yet, Muslim element in that merchant capacity was small. Most of Ottoman naval merchant capacity was in the hands of Greek subjects. Phanariot shipping tycoons were holding a near-monopoly of Ottoman trade with Europe and Morean Greeks were prominent in the regional commerce of the Archipelago and the Adriatic.
The official arrival date of steamship to the Ottoman Empire is 1828. However,Ottoman authorities, especially navy, by no way were ignorant about the new invention before that date. In the Greek war of Independence, the privateer steamship Karteria, commanded byan English officer caused considerable trouble to the Ottoman navy. On the other hand, therewere a few steamers among the Austrian transports chartered by Ottoman army to transport troops. However, the first steamship to carry the Ottoman flag was the
Sür’at.[1]
She was English built as the sailing ship Swift in 1801 and transformed to paddle wheeler in 1822. When she arrived to Istanbul in 1828, she was bought by a group of Armenian merchants and was presented to the sultan as a gift. She made quite an impression on the townsfolk who named her simply as buğ gemisi: the steamship.
Although Sultan Mahmud used Sür’at in a number of his travels in the sea of Marmara, according to an observation by the American shipwright Foster Rhodes[2] who was working for the Ottoman Navy in 1830s, he was perceiving steamships as little more than amusing toys. However, both Kapudan Pasha and influential Rhodes were staunch advocates of steam powered ships. Indeed, Kapudan Pasha Çengeloğlu Tahir has bought another British steamer, the Hilton Joliffe, from his own purse right in 1828. Renamed Sagir, she served with the navy in the operations against Russians during the war of 1828-29. His next move was to appoint the able Rhodes as the head of Tersane-i Amire. Both knew that Ottoman shipbuilding capacity was thoroughly lacking eventhe means to build steamship parts, let the ships themselves aside. So, Rhodes’ first task in his agenda was to lay the necessary framework for repair and refitting facilities suitable to steamers. He built the first steam engine workshops of the The Ottoman Empire at the Aynalıkavak navy yard in 1835.
An unexpected incident helped both to Kapudan Pasha andto Rhodes in their efforts to promote steamships. In 1837, Sultan Mahmud was returning from Izmit in the frigate Feyziye after participating to the launching ceremony of a new warship.On the road to Istanbul, a storm broke out. If a British and an Austrian steamer nearby had not taken Feyziye to tow, she would be driven ashore. After that incident, Sultan Mahmud was seriously convinced to the need of steamships and immediately ordered “a series of” steamers to be built.
Design development and construction was instructed to Rhodes and Charles Ross,another American who was his partner, in charge of Aynalıkavak yard. The first Ottoman built steamer Eser-i Hayır was launched in 24 November 1837. Two others, Mesir-i Bahri and Tahir-i Bahri followed her respectively in 1838 and 39.
Although the first Ottoman steamers were bought or built first for sultan’s personalservice and for war, the advantages of promoting merchant steamship capacity was well evident. Steamships, with their independency from wind and currents, were far superior to sailing ships in both speed and safety, provided there were enough coaling stations and repair facilities (early machines were quite crude and were rapidly worn out).First regular steamship passenger and merchandise transport by state hand started in 1844 with Mesir-i Bahri working between Istanbul and Marmara ports and Eser-i Hayır in Bosphorus.
A few years later (around 1850), almost simultaneously with the Şirket-i Hayriye (The Auspicious Navigation Company) of Bosphorus shipping, Fevaid-i Osmaniye Şirketi (The Ottoman Navigation Company) was established as the official state company for shipping in other imperial domains. Upon the accession of Sultan Abdülaziz to the throne in 1861, Fevaid-i Osmaniye Şirketi was renamed İdare-i Aziziye . With sultan Abdülhamid II’s reign, it was again changed, this time to İdare-i Mahsusa in 1877 and finally became Osmanlı Steam power was permanently in the Ottoman naval industry from then on.
Seyr-i Sefain İdaresi in 1910 and was attached to ministry of marine. Yet, with the start of open support to steam technology by the state more than a decade before the establishment of the company, Ottoman subjects who owned enough capital to run steamers had already started to work with them. For example, there were two privately owned steamers that were running between the black sea ports in 1839. However, Austrian Lloyd Company with his superior infrastructure soon overtook the steam transport in the black sea and the government had to intervene with state owned steamers to relive coastal population dependent to regular shipping.
Similarly, In the Mediterranean and Aegean lines, Austrian and British companies quickly claimed their supremacy; even sweeping Ottoman state owned shipping aside. However, in the lake and river shipping, Ottoman state and privately owned steam ships were somewhat more successful. Perhaps, the entry prohibition to major inland waterways for foreigners was effective in that outcome.
Yet, on the international open waterway of Danube,a private company, İdare-i Nehriye (The Riverine Navigation Office) founded during the governorship of Midhat Pasha, was successfully competing with Austrian rivals, doubling the number of its ships in short time; reaching to a total of seven steamers in 1869 with two big packet steamers soon to join.
By the end of Abdülaziz’s reign, there were 23 passenger ships owned by the state company. During Abdülhamid’s reign this number increased to 80, but by the declaration of second constitutional era this number was down to just 16 ships, most of them old and rotten.
The causes of that decline can be tied into two principal factors: challenge from European shipping companies and lack of Ottoman capital, qualified personnel and means of industrial production.
(SOURCE: Steamships and Ottomans by Emir Yener)
[1] Türk denizciliğinde yeni bir çığır açan ilk buharlı gemilerin Osmanlı Donanması’na girişi, Swift Vapuru’nun 21 Mayıs 1828’de, meraklı bakışların arasında İstanbul’a girişi ile başlayacaktı. Swift, 320.000 kuruşa satın alınacak, ardından bir ikinci buharlı gemimiz Hylton Jollife donanmaya dahil olacaktı…Osmanlı Devleti’nde ilk buharlı gemi 1827’de satın alınarak işletilmeye başlandı. II. Mahmut döneminde Tersane-i Amire tarafından satın alınan İngiliz Kaptan Kelly’nin yönetimindeki Swift adlı bu vapur halk arasında Bug gemisi adıyla anıldı. 19. yüzyılda Osmanlı toplumsal ve ekonomik yapısındaki dönüşüm ve tüketim alışkanlıklarındaki değişime paralel olarak sayfiye alışkanlığının gelişmesi ve yaygınlaşması özellikle İstanbul ile hemen yanı başında bulunan Boğaziçi arasındaki ulaşım gereksinimini artırdı. Hem seyir güvenliği bulunmayan hem de toplu ulaştırma aracı niteliği olmayan kayıklar giderek artan kent içi ulaşım talebini karşılayamaz oldu. Bu süreçte Boğaziçi’nde artan ulaşım talebini karşılamak üzereönce yabancılar buharlı gemi işletmeye başladı. 1837’de biri İngiliz diğeri Rus bandıralı gemilerle yapılan taşımacılık işi kısa bir süre sonra yasaklandı ancak devlet bu kez artan gereksinimi gidermek üzere harekete geçti. 1838 yılında Osmanlı sularında yolcu ve yük taşımak üzere işletilen ilk Osmanlı bandıralı buharlı gemiler olan Tersane-i Amire’ye ait Mesir-i Bahri (1838) ve Tair-i Bahri (1839) adlı vapurlardan biri İstanbul’da diğeri ise Marmara Denizi’nde İstanbul Bandırma İzmit ve Tekirdağ arasında işlemeye başladı.
MESİR-İ BAHRÎ Padişah Abdülmecit'in 1844 yılında Bursa'ya yaptığı gezinin ardından Mudanya-İstanbul arasında işletmeye konulan ilk buharlı geminin adı (Bak. ABDÜLMECÎT VE BURSA). Ülkemize getirilen ilk buharlı gemi Bahriye tarafından kullanılmış ve gemilerde buharlı döneme geçişte öncülük yapılmıştır. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'na gelen ilk buharlı gemi İngiliz yapımı "Swift" adlı gemidir. Beraberinde Hilton Joliffe (Kebir) adlı geminin de geldiği bilinmektedir. 1827 yılında Osmanlı'nın ilk buharlı gemisi, bir grup tüccar tarafından alınarak 21 Mayıs 1828'de İstanbul hakının meraklı bakışları arasında boğaza giriş yapmış ve Sultan II.Mahmud'a hediye edilmiş, müteakiben geminin ismi Türkçe anlamıyla "Sürat" olarak değiştirilmiştir. Ancak halk gemiye, onu ilk gördükleri haliyle (buhar ve duman içinde) tasvir eden "Buğu" ismini vermiştir. Ancak geminin gücünün yeterli olmadığını fark eden Sultan II.Mahmud buharlı gemi edinme ve yapmanın gerekliliğine inanmıştır. 1827'de gelen ilk buharlı gemiyi, 1829 yılında gelen ikincisi izlemiş ve müteakiben Amerikalı mühendis Foster Rhodes tarafından yapılmış ilk buharlı gemi olan "Eser-i Hayr" adlı gemi 26 Kasım 1837'de denize indirilmiştir. Bunu takiben Mesir-i Bahri (1838) ve Tair-i Bahri (1839) isimli gemiler takip etmiştir. Buharlı gemilerin bu şekilde Türk sularında yer alması Türk Denizcilik tarihi açısından adına "Buharlı Gemi Çağı" denilen yeni bir çağın başlamasına neden olmuştur. Bu dönemde Tersane-i Amire'de sadece buharlı savaş gemileri değil, Hazine-i Hassa Kumpanyası tarafından da ticaret maksatlı buharlı gemi filosu kurulmuştur.
Kurulan filonun temel maksadı ise Boğaz'daki yabancı gemilerle rekabet edebilmektir, yani diğer bir deyişle yabancı gemilerin varlığı Osmanlı'da ticari buharlı gemilerin kullanılmasında rol oynamıştır. Aynı zamanda Osmanlı'da denizciliğin makineye dayalı sanayileşmeye de öncülük ettiği söylemek mümkündür. Eser-i Hayr ve Mesir-i Bahr-i vapurları Bandırma, Tekirdağ ve İzmit'e yolcu ve yük taşımaya başlamıştır. Bu suretle Türkiye Denizcik İşletmelerinin temelleri atılmış oldu. Bu hatların açılması ile düzenli bir vapurculuk işletmesine gerek duyulmuş ve bu nedenle Tersane-i Amire emrinde 1838 yılında Tersane-i Amire Vapurculuk Nezareti (Bakanlığı) kurulmuştur. Tersane-i Amire Vapurculuk Nezareti her ne kadar yarı askeri yarı sivil olarak çalışmakta ise de, tamamen sivil statüye uygun bir vapurculuk idaresinin kurulması uygun görüldüğünden 1843 yılında Fevaid-i Osmaniye İdaresi kurulmuş ve bu suretle Tersane-i Amire Vapurculuk Nezareti'nin vapurları bu idareye devredilmiştir.
[2]
