English: In the Heart of the Sea | FINAL: The Priest's Lighthouse

Sinan Aycı
Jan 16, 2024
5 min read

Yes, last week Sinan Captain kept us in suspense and went into seclusion for a week. He had to finish the second passage.

Really dad, why was the second captain so scared?

There was a human body lying in the sea!!!

I immediately radioed the GPS location to Sector Kumkale.

I had nothing to do, I continued to sail with many difficult questions in my head about who he was, what kind of life he had, whether he had a family and children.

The weather was beautiful and the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.

I was already humming the famous song.

We arrived in Greece in the morning. We had breakfast while passing through the islands. The Aegean islands have a beautiful and serene atmosphere and a real dark blue sea.

The reports warned of a storm tomorrow.

It looked like we were going to experience the perfect storm. After taking the necessary safety precautions on board, we started to wait...

By the way, when those who do not know the life of sailors on a ship see a ship in the Bosphorus or on the shore, they only see a floating ship. There is no sign of people or even life. A ship floating in the water...

That's all.

Mom, dad, look, the ship is passing by, the child shouts. We don't exist for those watching.

We were to sail from the western tip of Greece to the open sea known to sailors as Mataban, 390 miles (723 km) from the nearest landmass.

This huge area is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, open to westerly and northerly winds that produce huge storms.

The last lighthouse we saw before going out to the open sea was the "Priest's Lighthouse".

The keeper of the lighthouse was a priest. No sailor passing by has ever seen his face or spoken to him even once.

The captains come as close as possible to the land and greet him and he responds by ringing the bell. As if to say, "May your bow be clear".

This is a mysterious and mystical ceremony for us.

I am sharing a memory of him below, let's see if he will ring the bell for us this time too.

Let's listen carefully!...

Seventy miles past the lighthouse, I saw the weather coming in, and we were going to sail through it and reach Sicily.

I went down to the dining room to have lunch before the rocking. At the next table was Doğan, a deck trainee, and it was his first time. He was a 17-year-old KATU student.

I could tell he was scared. I felt the need to say a few words. When he joined the ship, his mother had called me and said, "My son is in your care, captain".

- Dogan, are you scared?

- No, Captain.

- You'll be with me on the bridge during the cruise...

- Yes, sir!

- Maybe you won't sleep for 2 days, ready?

- I'm ready, Mr. Süvari!

"OK, then you will serve the coffee, I will sleep in the meantime, you will take the shift, can you handle it?" I said just to motivate him.

"Yes, sir," he said happily and took the first step to become a captain.

But of course it didn't work out that way...

He got seasick and lay in his cabin for 4 days with green bile coming out of his stomach.

In 1989, it happened to me on my first sailing in Algeria, I didn't find it strange at all, but I slept for 3 days.

The weather was really bad, our speed had dropped from 10 knots (knot=1 mile) to 4.5 knots.

I called the chief engineer from the engine room to the bridge and asked about the condition of the engine.

He told me that we could go like this without straining the engine.

If the bridge is the brain of the ship, the engine is the heart. Every unit on board complements each other and we never want any disconnection between them.

What we experienced for about 4 days is really like in this video...

Waves as tall as 4-5-story apartment buildings

In such weather there is little conversation on board, the cook can't even cook, maybe boil potatoes and eggs.

Most of the crew don't lift their heads from the pillow. It's almost an intensive care situation.

In Istanbul, when I am at home, I find it hard not to laugh when I see seasick people crossing from Üsküdar to Eminönü.

By the time we arrived in Sicily, the weather had slowly started to drop and the staff had slowly emerged from their beds.

The first thing we saw was Mount Vesuvius, the summit of which was as smoky and threatening as ever, ready to erupt.

Catania is an incredibly beautiful city on the slopes of Vesuvius in Sicily. I hope they don't end up like Pompeii in ancient times because it looks like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

The same day we docked at the harbor and started unloading the cargo.

When I stepped down from the gangway (Borda ladder) and set foot on land for the first time, the ground was still shaking.

The 11-day voyage had lasted 14 days because of the storm.

I had to take off my shoes and step on the ground, I was nervous and my body was charged with static electricity. The pleasure and relaxing effect of stepping barefoot on the ground is best known to sailors.

Because they spend all their time on a ship made of steel.

*** We were in the harbor for about 4 days.

The first thing I did was to order a pizza for Doğan, he was a young sailor who gave me the love of a trust and a son. I didn't want him to repent for the first time.

They are our future!

Do you think there is another profession that has such adventures in 14 days?

Sometimes I don't like this job at all, but I guess I can't do without it.

Haa!... they say we have a lover in every port, don't believe it!!!

Sailors who are family men like me always dream of their wives and children.

In fact, when they meet them, they set foot on land and everything is for their happiness...