Thanks to the American Kay’s account of his journeys in Turkey Constantinople we obtain useful information dealing with the Turkish or Ottoman navy in this period. (1) Kay’s remarks are confirmed by the accounts of other visitors.
p. 317: “Since the Greek revolution, no Greeks are permitted to serve in any capacity on board their fleet, and this regulation is strictly enforced. They [the Turkish] regard the employment of foreigners in their service with suspicion, and indeed have much reason for it. The Greeks have played them many a slippery trick, as well as the Christian slaves whom they formerly compelled to serve in their ships. In 1660, a Turkish frigate was lying at anchor in the Bosphorus. While the captain was giving a dinner on board to his friends, the slaves mutinied, killed the Turkish crew, put the officers in irons, made sail, and the Porte never heard of them again. In 1760, the slaves in the vice-admiral’s ship rose upon the crew, while the officers were at church on the island of Stanchio Malta France
p. 318: of this were visible at Navarino, where they were compelled to abandon the fleet previous to the action, as they were threatened by the French admiral to be treated as pirates or rebels if they were taken. An English navy lieutenant was here a year or two ago, who kindly offered to instruct the Turks in naval tactics. His proposals were very moderate. He only required the humble rank of rear- admiral, and the pay of that rank as allowed by the rules of the English service; a little modicum of about $30,000 per annum. The Turks replied that he should be heartily welcome to any rank, title, name, or honour that he desired; but that they could not afford to give him a sum which, nearly equalled their whole civil list. The Turks have some good qualities as sailors, and others which will for a long time continue to operate against them. We do not speak of the men, for they are capable of being made first-rate sailors, as they are able, active, clean, and subordinate. The fault lies with the officers, who, under the existing regulations, seem to take no pride in their rank, and indulge in the indolence and apathy which mark the character of the Turkish effendi. We have seen crowds of young naval officers in attendance at the levee of a grandee, who instead of exhibiting their quarterdeck paces in the antechamber, were snugly stowed away upon a divan with their heels tucked under them, and waiting for hours in the same position without the slightest indication of impatience or uneasiness. It is fair to presume that the same sort of anchor watch is kept on board ship, and that there is not much difference in fact between a watch on deck and a watch below. There is, moreover, no respect or etiquette kept up between the officers of different ranks, and blows are distributed rather more freely among the officers than upon the crew. An admiral will pull a captain by the beard, or slap his face without ceremony; a captain will kick a commandant, the commandant tweak the nose of a lieutenant,
p. 319: find a lieutenant whip a score of middies before breakfast, upon the slightest provocation. Nor is this all; the captain pacha has the power of life and death over all his officers and crews, a power which he exercises without ceremony or responsibility. The present captain pacha, as we have been assured by an eyewitness, acts in two different ways: when a. culprit is brought before him, he is questioned as to his crime or fault, and asked to explain. If the fault is trifling, the pacha usually knocks him down by a blow upon the head with a ponderous club, and when he comes to, he finds himself in his own berth, and returns to duty as if nothing had happened. If the crime be a serious one, the pacha orders him to retire, and by a sign intimates the punishment. He is strangled immediately upon leaving the cabin, and his body thrown overboard. No such thing as a court of inquiry, court martial, or judge advocates are ever heard of, although these have been within the last two months attempted to be introduced into the army. The rations of the Turkish sailors are good, and amply sufficient for all their wants. Their pay is $3 62½ cents per month, and they are also furnished with clothes. They are divided into as many messes as there are cannon, and the number of seamen attached to each ship varies according to circumstances. The usual complement of a ship of the line is stated to be 1200; but the fondness for large retinues, which distinguishes all orientals, increases this number to an enormous amount. In the captain pacha’s vessel, which was burned by the Greeks near Scio during the late revolution, there were more than 2200 people on board. Each district of the empire is bound to contribute a certain number of sailors, and upon their return from a cruise they are permitted to visit their friends upon furlough. Should they exceed their furlough two or three weeks, little notice is taken of the transgression. This is, however, obviously wrong, and is one of the many causes which
p. 320: prevent the government from fitting out an expedition upon the spur of the moment. A single fact will illustrate the tardy movements of their navy, although it is commanded by an active and efficient officer. About the middle of November, 1831, the movements of the Viceroy of Egypt having become very suspicious, an order was issued for the fleet to proceed to sea with all possible despatch, and yet it did not sail until the 7th of May following. It requires no skill in prophecy to foretell that a nation which thus procrastinates in its public acts will be, and indeed deserves to be, defeated. An English resident here related to us the following anecdote, which shows the .manner in which their naval affairs are managed. The successor to a former captain pacha (who was a small man) happened to be rather above the ordinary stature. On paying his first official visit to the arsenal, he went through the several vessels then lying in ordinary; and as he was compelled to stoop in going his rounds, he ordered all the decks to be heightened to suit his stature, and when some one ventured to suggest that the former pacha had determined their height after the opinion of the naval constructors, he replied that all that might be true, but that his predecessor was a little fellow, and might get along with such low decks, but that he would not put up with it, and they were accordingly all altered. If we were not misinformed, this identical big pacha afterward lost his life in the Straits of Scio. Their nautical words are chiefly borrowed from the Greek and Italian. The pay of a commander of a vessel is $500 per annum, and his half-pay, when not in actual service, is forty cents per day. The various ranks are dependent entirely upon the will of the sultan; hence it has happened, that a high admiral of to-day may lose his rank and command a small vessel tomorrow, with the simple title of commander.”
Source
James Ellsworth Kay. Sketches of 
