Kemal Reis

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Kemal Reis
Born1451 (1451)
Manisa, Anatolia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Died1511 (aged 59–60)
Mediterranean Sea
AllegianceOttoman Empire
Service/branchOttoman Navy
Years of servicec. 1470–1511
RankAdmiral
Battles/warsBattle of Zonchio
Battle of Modon

Kemal Reis (c. 1451 – 1511) was an Ottoman privateer and admiral. He was also the paternal uncle of the famous Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, who accompanied him in most of his important naval expeditions.

Background and early career

Kemal Reis was born in Manisa on the Aegean coast of the Ottoman Empire in circa 1451.[1] His full name was Ahmed Kemaleddin (Ahmet Kemalettin). His ancestry is disputed; some sources claim that he was born into a Turkish family,[1][2][3] while other sources indicate that he was born into a Greek family which converted from Christianity to Islam.[4][5][6] He became known in Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, with names like Camali and Camalicchio.[1]

Naval mission to Spain

Further information:
Nasrid-Ottoman relations
Göke (1495) was the flagship of Kemal Reis.
Map of Granada by the Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis, nephew of Kemal Reis, 15th century.

Kemal Reis started his career as the commander of the naval fleet belonging to the Sanjak Bey (Provincial Governor) of Eğriboz (present-day

Almeria and Málaga
.

Admiral of the Ottoman Navy

In 1495 Kemal Reis was made an admiral of the Ottoman Navy by Sultan

Knights of St. John. In April 1498, commanding a fleet of 6 galleys, 12 fustas with large cannons, 4 barques and 4 smaller types of ships, he set sail from the Dardanelles and headed south towards the Aegean islands that were controlled by the Republic of Venice. In June 1498 he appeared in the island of Paros and later sailed towards Crete where he landed his troops at Sitia and captured the town along with the nearby villages before sending his Scout forces to examine the characteristics of the nearby Venetian castle. In July 1498 he sailed to Rosetta (Rashid) in Egypt with a force of 5 galleys, 6 fustas and 2 barques for transporting 300 Muslim pilgrims heading for Mecca, who also had with them 400,000 gold ducats which were sent to the Mamluk sultan by Bayezid II. Near the port of Abu Kabir he captured 2 Portuguese ships (one galleon and one barque) after fierce fighting which lasted 2 days. From there Kemal Reis sailed towards Santorini
and captured a Venetian barque, before capturing another Portuguese ship in the Aegean Sea.

Ottoman-Venetian Wars

Battle of Zonchio (1499)

In January 1499 Kemal Reis set sail from Constantinople with a force of 10 galleys and 4 other types of ships, and in July 1499 met with the huge Ottoman fleet which was sent to him by Davud Pasha and took over its command in order to wage a large scale war against the Republic of Venice. The Ottoman fleet consisted of 67 galleys, 20 galliots and circa 200 smaller vessels. In August 1499 Kemal Reis defeated the

Cefalonia
between October and December, 1499.

In December 1499 the Venetians attacked

Lepanto with the hope of regaining their lost territories in the Ionian Sea. Kemal Reis set sail from Cefalonia and retook Lepanto from the Venetians. He stayed in Lepanto between April and May 1500, where his ships were repaired by an army of 15,000 Ottoman craftsmen brought from the area. From there Kemal Reis set sail and bombarded the Venetian ports on the island of Corfu, and in August 1500 he once again defeated the Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon which is also known as the Second Battle of Lepanto. Kemal Reis bombarded the fortress of Modon from the sea and captured the town. He later engaged with the Venetian fleet off the coast of Coron and captured the town along with a Venetian brigantine. From there Kemal Reis sailed towards the Island of Sapientza (Sapienza) and sank the Venetian galley "Lezza". In September 1500 Kemal Reis assaulted Voiussa and in October he appeared at Cape Santa Maria on the Island of Lefkada before ending the campaign and returning to Istanbul in November. With the Battle of Modon, the Ottoman fleet and army quickly overwhelmed most of the Venetian possessions in Greece. Modon and Coron
, the "two eyes of the Republic", were lost. Ottoman cavalry raids reached Venetian territory in northern Italy, and, in 1503, Venice again had to seek peace, recognizing the Ottoman's gains.

In January 1501 Kemal Reis set sail from Constantinople with a fleet of 36 galleys and fustas. In February 1501 he landed at the Island of

Zonchio, near Navarino, with a force of 5 galliots and 14 fustas. The Ottoman forces landed there and captured the Venetian castle and the nearby settlements after a siege which lasted less than 10 hours. Kemal Reis also captured 3 Venetian galleys, a Venetian caravelle and several other local ships which were docked at the port of Zonchio. He took these ships first to Modon and later to the Island of Aegina, before sailing towards Euboea. He later captured Navarino from the Venetians, adding another important port to the Ottoman Empire. In June 1501 Kemal Reis sailed to the Adriatic Sea and strengthened the Ottoman defenses at Voiussa and Vlorë
.

Operations in the West Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean

In July 1501 Kemal Reis, accompanied by his nephew

Sea of Darkness. This map was to become one of the main source charts of the famous Piri Reis map of 1513 which was drawn by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis
who was the nephew of Kemal Reis.

After leaving Valencia, still in August 1501, Kemal Reis headed south and bombarded the coastal defenses of

Iberian peninsula. From there Kemal Reis sailed southwest and landed on several of the Canary Islands, where the Ottomans faced moderate opposition from the Spanish forces. Piri Reis used the occasion, as in other voyages with his uncle, to draw his famous portolan charts which were later to become a part of the renowned Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation). Kemal Reis later turned eastwards, where he followed the Atlantic coastline of Morocco and re-entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, landing on several ports of Morocco and Algeria on the way. From there Kemal Reis headed further east and captured several Genoese ships off the coast of Tripoli in Libya. He also intercepted several Venetian
galleys in the area before sailing back to Constantinople.

Return to the East Mediterranean

In May 1502 Kemal Reis set sail from

Knights of St. John in Rhodes and 4 French galleys under the command of the Prégent de Bidoux. Overwhelmed by the size of the enemy fleet, Kemal Reis was forced to abandon Lefkada and sailed back first to Gallipoli and later to Constantinople, where, in October 1502, he ordered the construction of new ships at the Imperial Naval Arsenal of the Golden Horn
.

In March 1503 Kemal Reis set sail from Constantinople with his new ships and reached Gallipoli where he took over the command of the Ottoman fleet that was based there. However, he was caught by a severe illness and had to return to Constantinople for treatment, which lasted a long time and caused him to remain inactive between November 1503 and March 1505.

In March 1505 Kemal Reis was appointed with the task of intercepting the

Knights of St. John in Rhodes who caused serious damage on Ottoman shipping routes off the coasts of Anatolia, and he set sail from Gallipoli with a force of 3 galleys and 17 fustas, heading first towards the Island of Kos, which he had earlier captured from the Knights, with the aim of organizing an assault on their base in nearby Rhodes. In May 1505 Kemal Reis assaulted the coasts of Rhodes and landed a large number of Ottoman troops on the island, where they bombarded the castle of the Knights from land and took control of several settlements. From there Kemal Reis sailed to the islands of Tilos and Nisyros where he bombarded the fortresses of the Knights from the sea. Still in May 1505 Kemal Reis captured the Island of Lemnos and assaulted the Island of Chios, before returning to Modon
in July 1505.

Return to the West Mediterranean and Spain

In September 1505 Kemal Reis assaulted Sicily and captured 3 ships (one from the Republic of Ragusa, the other two from Sicily) off the Sicilian coast.

In January 1506 he made the Island of

Almeria and Málaga. He also transported Muslims and Jews
and took them to Constantinople.

In May 1506 Kemal Reis, commanding a force of 8 galliots and fustas, returned to the

Cerigo in the Ionian Sea
with a force of 3 galleys and 2 fustas, and exchanged fire with the Venetian fleet under the command of Girolamo Contarini. He later sailed back to Constantinople.

Later operations in the East Mediterranean

In January 1507 Kemal Reis was appointed by

City of Rhodes and landed a large number of janissaries
at the port. In only a few days 4 large assaults are made on the Castle of Rhodes as well as the walls of the citadel that surrounds the city. Towards mid February, in command of 3 galleys and 3 fustas, he chased the ships belonging to Knights that were escaping Rhodes for the safety of nearby islands, and captured 3 galleons and 9 other types of ships.

Final missions and death

Still in 1509 Kemal Reis sailed to the

Mamluks for their fight against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean
. The cargo fleet that Kemal Reis was to escort amounted to a total of 40 ships, 8 of which were galleys.

In early 1511, after passing the lands of the Duchy of Naxos and being sighted for the last time in December 1510, 27 ships of the Ottoman cargo fleet were wrecked by a severe storm in the Mediterranean Sea, including the ship of Kemal Reis, who died with his men. According to the Venetian Marino Sanudo (I Diarii, vol. 11, 663), the news of his death reached Edirne on 8 November 1511.

Legacy

Several warships of the

Turkish Navy
have been named after Kemal Reis.

Piri Reis wrote this poem for his uncle, from whom he learned so much about the Ottoman Navy, in the opening section of his famous Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation):

Good friend, I want you

To remember us in your prayers,

And remember Kemal Reis, our master,

May his soul be content!

He had perfect knowledge of the seas

And knew the science of navigation.

He knew innumerable seas;

No one could stop him...

We sailed the Mediterranean together

And saw all its great cities.

We went to Frankish lands

And defeated the infidel.

One day an order from

Sultan Bayezid arrived.

"Tell Kemal Reis to come to me,"

It said, "and advise me on affairs of the sea."

So in 1495, the year of this command,

We returned to our country.

By the sultan's command we set out

And won many victories...

Kemal Reis sailed hoping to come back,

But was lost at sea.

Everyone once spoke of him;

Now even his name is forgotten...

The angel of death caught him

While he was serving Sultan Bayezid.

May Allah give peace to those

Who remember Kemal Reis with a prayer.

Kemal died and went to the next world

And we found ourselves alone in this.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Bono, Salvatore: Corsari nel Mediterraneo (Corsairs in the Mediterranean), Oscar Storia Mondadori. Perugia, 1993.
  2. ISBN 9789944547208. Turkish: Izmir körfezi Karaburun kökenli bir Türk ailede doğmuş bulunan Kemal Reis [...] (English
    : Kemal Reis, who was born in a Turkish family of Karaburun origin in the Gulf of Izmir [...])
  3. ISBN 9789944547208. Turkish: Kemal ve Piri Reislerin Karaman'dan Gelibolu'ya gelen bir Türk ailesinin [...] (English
    : Kemal and Piri Reiss belong to a Turkish family who came to Gallipoli from Karaman [...])
  4. ISBN 978-3-642-55227-4
    . Piri Reis – the real name of Haci Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (between 1465 to 1470—c. 1553). The Turkish Fleet commander, geographer... He is thought to be of the Greek origin.
  5. ISBN 978-975-409-442-8
    . PİRİ MUJYI'L - DİN REIS, Osmanlı denizcisi (navigatör) ve kartograf, muhtemelen Hıristiyan (Yunan) kökenli idi.
  6. ^ Ιωάννου 'Αμαντος, Κωνσταντίνος (1955). Σχέσεις Ελλήνων & Τούρκων: από του ενδεκάτου αιώνος μέχρι του 1821. οι πόλεμοι των τούρκων προς κατάληψιν των Ελληνικών χωρών 1071-1571 (in Greek). Οργανισμός Εκδόσεως Σχολικών Βιβλίων. p. 167. Ὑπὸ τὸν Βαρβαρόσσα ὑπηρέτησε καὶ ὁ ἑλληνικῆς πιθανῶς καταγωγῆς ναύαρχος Piri Reis...

Sources

Further reading

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