The Ottoman fleet now consists of the Mahmoud, 120 guns;
Selim, (flag-ship) 80; five line-of-battle ships, mounting 74 guns each; four
frigates, five corvettes, one brig, two steamboats, at Constantinople: one
line-of-battle ship, fourteen frigates and corvettes; which ships escaped from
Navrin &c., on their way from Alexandria. Total- eight line-of-battle
ships, and twenty-four frigates, corvettes, and brigs. Some of these ships are
so old as to be scarcely sea-worthy, and one of the seventy-four’s is broken backed.
The Mahmoud was still unfinished, but they expected to have her ready for sea
in spring; she is the largest ship in the world, and I understand that her
proportions are perfect. She has a flush-deck, and is nine feet in her beam
than the largest of our [British] line-of-battle ships. Her length is two
hundred and thirty-four feet, and her width sixty-three feet. The height of her
lower deck is seven feet; and her sides are four feet six inches thick. On her
main-deck she is to mount long brass 32-pounders; on her middle deck,
42-pounders and on her lower deck, 68-pounders, besides four or more guns
carrying enormous stone balls”.
“I was one day conversing with a Turkish naval officer of
high rank, relative to the Turkish fleet, and remarked to him that the “Mahmoud”
was the largest ship in existence. “True”, said he; ”but of what use is it to
us? we do not know how to manage her; besides, the English, who form the first
naval power, do not build such large vessels; and all that we now learn in our
navy is owing to their example”. His remarks were correct; for, in the
present stat of the Turkish navy, it is impossible to expect that such a ship
as the Mahmoud could be properly worked. It must, however, be acknowledged,
that the Turks are apt imitators of our system, and have profited much by the
example of his majesty’s ships Blonde and Rifleman, which were anchored at
Constantinople during six months. Previous to their arrival, the Turkish
men-of-war were in great disorder; but the contrast presented by the appearance
of our frigates induced them to alter the trim of their own vessels, and their
external appearance latterly was very respectable”. “The Turkish ships are
usually too much crowded, and the number of men only serves to embarrass their
movements at sea, and cause them a heavy loss when in action: not attention is
paid to the cleanliness of the crew; and the ships are consequently in a most
filthy state. There is no doubt but that a rapid improvement may take place in
the internal arrangements of the Ottoman navy, for the materials at Mahmoud’s
disposal are much the same as those with which Mahmoud Ali has effected so much
in Egypt. The Turkish sailors sleep upon carpets spread on the deck”.
Source
Captain T. Abercromby Trant. Narrative of a journey
through Greece in 1830 with remarks upon the actual state of the naval and
military power of the Ottoman Empire. London, 1830, p. 418-420, 426.
