Thousands of artifacts removed from sunken Ertuğrul Frigate

MUĞLA – Anadolu Agency

More than 8,000 artifacts have been removed during excavations that have been ongoing for seven years at the Ertuğrul Frigate, which sank off the coast of Japan in 1890, the head of the excavations has said. 

Tufan Turanlı, the head of the Bodrum Culture and Art Foundation (BOSAV) and the Ertuğrul Frigate excavations, said a total of 8,327 pieces were removed during the excavations that have been continuing since 2007. 

The Ertuğrul frigate, which had gone to Japan on a friendly mission, sank off the Japanese city of Kushimoto after being broken into pieces by the rocks of the island of Oshima on Sept. 18, 1890, causing the death of 550 Turkish sailors. 

Nine Japanese journalists have recently visited the Underwater Archaeology Institute in Bodrum. 

Making a presentation about the frigate, Turanlı said that among the pieces were very small studs alongside very big cooking boilers and other big parts of the frigate. 

“We believe that we will reach more valuable things in the next years. The most important artifacts are found in a part we call the inn. Because the pieces fell into this inn, it has been protected from storms. Now they are waiting to be found there by our teams,” he added. 

Stating that they were the window to Turkey in Japan, Turanlı said, “This excavation sheds light on the history of Turkish maritime. We promoted our country very well in Japan for 11 years.”