Gulets For Sale

Wiktionary

Gulet: Bodrum-based, wooden yacht comprised of various shapes and riggings
Gullet: The throat or esophagus.

The Largest Wooden Boat-building Center in the World

The Aegean Sea is rich with with archaeological and historical evidence of sailing traditions since antiquity. It is thought that the pre-Hellenic civilizations of Carians and Lelegians were largely nomadic inhabitants of Asia Minor, but that these indigenous people eventually pushed towards the sea and began to populate the nearby islands as early as the 4th century BC. There is evidence that rafts made from reeds were used to access the island of Kos from Temera (Akyarlar) on the Bodrum peninsula.

Bodrum Boatbuilding in Antiquity - Queen Artemis I

We find further evidence of boatbuilding along the Bodrum peninsula from historical references which document boats being built in Myndus (Gümüslük) and Bodrum. One of the best documented references is from Herodotus, telling us that the ruler of Halicarnassus, Artemisia I, contributed 70 ships to the famous Battle of Salamis during the Persian uprising against Greece.

The Bodrum Castle is a splendid backdrop for the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, where visitors may see actual reconstructions of boats from antiquity whose remains have been excavated from the local seas.

Boatbuilding in Bodrum - Ottoman Empire

There are no further references to boatbuilding in Bodrum until the Ottoman Empire, during which a military shipyard was established in Bodrum. There is also evidence that the building of galleons and warships were undertaken along the western harbor in Bodrum. The Ottoman shipyard has recently been restored through the coordinated efforts of Turkcell/Ericsson and can be visited just northwest of the Bodrum Milta Marina.

The early 20th century and subsequent fall of the Ottoman Empire saw a dwindling in boatbuilding, and the only boats in Bodrum were small fishing vessels and sponge diving boats. It wasn’t until the 1960s with the advent of tourism that the industry was revived with the writings of Cevat Sakir, the Fisherman of Halicarnassus and his testimonials of bohemian adventures and intriguing tales in the beautiful local bays and waters.

A Millenium of Boatbuilding in Bodrum, Turkey

Local carpenters working under apprenticeship began building predecessors to today’s gulets. The boats of the pre-Blue Cruise era were 10-12 meters long with at most one cabin, but usually contained generous aft deck space for lounging. The boats became increasingly larger and more spacious in the 1960s and 1970s, and the large scale tourism boom of the 1980s was the setting for a flurry of boat launches leading to an increasingly sophisticated boatbuilding industry in Bodrum. Today’s gulets are built using imported tropical wood and epoxy cold moulding techniques in covered, climate controlled boatyards. They are designed by naval architects and equipped with custom rigging and the latest electronic and navigation equipment. Most boatyards are located just outside of Bodrum in Içmeler, which is a 2-3 kilometer taxi or dolmus ride. Private tours can be arranged.