A Day of Remembrance at Sea

Wednesday, November 11th
Remembrance Day
Route of the Ancient Traders
Day 1
M/S Nautica
At Sea
Clear – 66 Degrees

Overnight, we continued through the Sea of Marmara. This morning, we cruised through the Dardanelles and down the Gallipoli Peninsula before sailing out into the Aegean.

Gallipoli is a famous and tragic battle site from WWI. The Allies stormed Gallipoli in 1915 with the hopes of knocking Turkey out of the war and opening a relief route to Russia. The infantry, under the command of the British with large numbers from around the Commonwealth, took the high ground, but were ordered back. The Turks retook the hilltop and the slaughter was on. When the fighting stopped, 130,000 men had lost their lives.

The commander who successfully defended Gallipoli for the Turks was Mustafa Kemal. He would go on to become Ataturk, the hero of modern Turkey, and found the Turkish Republic a decade later.

There are many memorials along the peninsula dedicated to fallen heroes on both sides of the war. The Martyries Monument is visible from the water.


Viewing these monuments from afar is especially poignant today, Remembrance Day, as the Commonwealth nations refer to Veterans Day. Australians and New Zealanders lost so many men on these shores a world away that Gallipoli is a place of pilgrimage for them. Our Aussie and Canadian friends on board were saddened by how few of the American passengers took note and how little was made of the event by the ship’s crew. In their countries, the clocks still stop and time stands still at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

In the afternoon, we attended the first of several enrichment lectures aboard ship: “Great Power Rivalry and the Suez Canal.” Guest Lecturer Dr. Douglas Sturkey is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. He has held several senior diplomatic appointments abroad over a 30-year career with the Australian Foreign Service, including a key role in the Australian initiative that eventually brought peace to Cambodia. He served as Secretary to the Governor General of Australia, the Queen’s representative and head of state. We are very much looking forward to his next lectures, and hoping not to sleep through them as we did the first one. We have talked with Doug several times around the ship and on shore. He is one of our favorite fellow passengers.