Page 92 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

82 Arabian Studies IV
he had served in the Mamluk fleet before the Ottoman conquest of
Egypt in 1517, and was therefore familiar with that part of the
world.5
The report is valuable not only for the developments in the
Indian Ocean but also for the information it gives on the variety of
guns and ships which the Ottomans possessed at that time at
Jedda, and on the historical geography of the countries adjacent to
the Red Sea.6
The report attributed to Selman Reis reads as follows:
1. This is a list of the ships and guns, stationed at the port of Jedda the
prosperous, to be used against the Infidel Portuguese7 (Portakal-i btdiri),8
as formerly mentioned. It is set forth as follows (written on 10 Sha‘ban
al-Mu‘azzam, 931/2 June, 1525):
Six bastards (ba$rarde).9
Eight galleys (kadirga).
Three galliots (ka/yafe).
One caique (kayiti).10
An additional caique lying at anchor in ruined condition.
This is the account of the guns:
Seven basilisks (badalu$ka)u—they arc guns for bombarding fortresses.
Thirteen yantopu.12
Fifty-seven zarbozanxi
Twenty-nine $ayka.XA
Ninety-five iron guns.
Ninety-seven falconets (prangi)xi
Four hundred qinfirs of gun powder, each qinf&r weighing four thousand
and four hundred dirhams.6
Five hundred and thirty copper basilisk cannon balls.
Nine hundred copper falconet cannon balls.
The following is an account of the necessities of war (Icvazimdt), which
are essential for the aforesaid ships, as follows:
Caulkers (kalafatgi): fifty men.
Carpenters (necar): twenty men.
Ironsmiths (baddad): two men.
Work-benches: 2.
Sawyers: two men.
Pitch: five hundred Egyptian qintars.17
White lead for caulking: two hundred qintars.
European cable fibre: two hundred qintirs.
Sail-cloth: ten thousand ar$in.x8
Top-gallant yards: twenty pairs.
Linseed oil: two hundred qinfSrs.
Oars: five hundred pieces (‘adad).
Artillery men (topfu): twenty men.
Brave young sailors from Rum:19 one thousand.
2. Such is the case tiiat, by the time the aforementioned ships and arms
were prepared for action, more than one million two hundred thousand
GhawrI gold coins (sikke-i gOri altun)20 and years of effort had been
expended. With these ships and arms it is possible to capture and hold all

S.

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