The
Turkish marine industry is millennia old, with traditions of traders, pirates and
Ancient navies almost as old as recorded
History itself. In fact, the world's oldest known shipwreck (1350 BC) was discovered off the
Turkish coast outside the village of Kas by the Texas based Institute of Nautical Archaeology, precursor to the fleets of the Dorians, Romans and Ottomans that sailed in her wake.
Today, gulets bearing remarkable similarities to those
Ancient craft still ply
Turkey's
Aegean coast. Diesel engines have replaced lateen sails and sun worshippers the
Ancient cargos of oil, copper and glass. But designs, materials and construction techniques have changed only slightly over the centuries. Traditional boat building can be found throughout the length of
Turkey's
Aegean and
Mediterranean shores but the greatest number of boats and boat yards are still found in
Bodrum, home to
Turkey's
Aegean charter fleet. Visitors cannot help but be impressed by the majesty and sheer volume of gleaming
Wooden Yachts (gulets) that crowd every meter of harbor wall, the majority of which are
Bodrum built.
Since the time of its most famous resident King
Mausolous (4th Century BC)
Bodrum has been an important local boat building center. King Ptolemy of Egypt had warships built here in the 3rd century BC in the area now occupied by the present day marina. There are now over thirty boatyards in the immediate
Bodrum area and many more on the surrounding
Peninsula.