THE SULTAN’S FLEET

Publisher: London: I.B. Tauris, 2022, 296pp. ISBN: 978075- 5641758.

A provocative alternative to the standard narrative about the Ottoman imperial success, The Sultan’s Fleet – Seafarers of the Ottoman Empire is an indispensable book about one of the most influential but misunderstood phenomenon of the past few hundred years.

The book takes a fresh look at the history of the Ottoman navy in the light of recent discoveries in Turkish archives and draws some insightful new conclusions. The story begins with early Seljuk sailors in the fourteenth century and ends in the eighteenth century. The origins of this auxiliary to the better- known Ottoman army are explored in some detail, taking into account the complex roots of the societies that contributed to this multi-racial and multi- confessional maritime force. Isom-Verhaaren examines particular biographies, periods, principles and themes that are currently being re-evaluated by modern historians in the twenty- rst century. The aim of her study is to explain “the accomplishments and challenges of the men who brought about Ottoman naval expansion and their relations with the sultan and his elite administrators” (p. 1). She depicts a lucid and vivid impression of the Ottoman fleet at a time when this diverse and rich Muslim Empire was at its height. Then the author surveys the multiple achievements of the infideles turcos at sea. Finally, she elucidates the start of the era of comparative stagnation or ‘decline’ in relation to the growth of Western European nations. Her book captures well the extremely complex “intersection between the personal and the political in relation to religious affiliation, public office, and personal family ties” (p. 133). Reliant on a thorough examination of modern Turkish scholarship, The Sultan’s Fleet provides an executive summary of the phenomenon and processes involved, according to contemporary historiography, giving novel insights woven together with great skill and precision.