SS Kurtuluş

This article is about the Turkish freighter SS Kurtuluş. For İstanbul neighborhood of the same name, see Kurtuluş.

300px
Career (Turkey)	60px
Name:	SS Teşvikiye (1924-1930), SS Bülent (1930-1934), SS Kurtuluş (1934-1942), also see register below
Builder:	Caird & Purdie Shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England
Launched:	1883
In service:	1883
Out of service:	20 January 1942
Homeport:	Istanbul
Fate:	Sank 20 January 1942 off Marmara Island
General characteristics
Length:	75.5 metres (247 ft 8 in)
Capacity:	2,735

SS Kurtuluş was a Turkish cargo ship which became famous for her humanitarian role in carrying food aid during the great famine Greece suffered under the Occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany in World War II. She sank on 20 February 1942 in the Sea of Marmara during her fifth voyage from İstanbul, Turkey to Piraeus, Greece.

The ship

The steamer Kurtuluş was built by Caird & Purdie Shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England in 1883. She was a dry-freight carrier, 76.5 m (250 feet) long with 2,735 gross tons capacity. After having served under different flags and names, she was purchased in 1924 by the prominent Turkish shipowning family, Kalkavan brothers. She served as freighter in Turkish waters as one of the first ships under the flag of the newly established Turkish Republic. She was re-sold in 1934 to another family active in the same field, Tavilzade brothers, who named her "SS Kurtuluş" ("Liberation") in 1934. In 1941, SS Kurtuluş was leased by the Turkish government for humanitarian relief to be provided during the food crisis in Greece.

The mission

Greece experienced the "Great Famine" (Greek: Μεγάλος Λιμός) during the time the country was occupied by Nazi Germany starting April 1941, as well as a sea blockade by the Royal Navy at the same time. The famine is reported to have caused the death of 70,000 people according to the official, Nazi-controlled, Greek sources of the period and over 300,000 according to the historian Mark Mazower.

The National Greek War Relief Association, an organization formed in October 1940 by the Greek Orthodox Church, started to raise funds in the United States and to organize relief efforts to supply the population with food and medicine. The British were initially reluctant to lift the blockade since it was the only form of pressure they had on the Axis Powers. However, a compromise was reached to allow shipments of grain to come from the neutral Turkey, despite the fact that it was within the blockade zone.

Turkish president İsmet İnönü signed a decision to help the people whose army he had personally fought during the Turkish War of Independence 19 years previous. The people of Turkey thus became the first to lend a helping hand to Greece. Foodstuffs were collected by a nationwide campaign of Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent), and were sent to the port of Istanbul to be shipped to Greece. SS Kurtuluş was prepared for her voyage with big symbols of the Red Crescent painted on both sides.

After having received permission from London to cross the blockade zone, the ship left Karaköy Pier on 6 October 1941 for the first time. Upon landing in Piraeus, the port city near Athens, the International Red Cross took charge of unloading and of distributing the foodstuffs. In the following months, SS Kurtuluş made three more voyages to Greece delivering a total of 6,735 tons of food aid .

During her fifth voyage, after having left Istanbul on 18 February, the old ship was caught in heavy weather and rough seas in the Sea of Marmara. During the night of 20 February 1942, SS Kurtuluş was blown onto rocks off the coast near Saraylar village, north of Marmara Island. She sank the next morning at 9:15. All 34 crew members reached Marmara Island. The place was later named Cape Kurtuluş in her memory.

Despite the loss of SS Kurtuluş, Turkey maintained her determination to help, and continued sending aid until 1946 with other ships like SS Dumlupınar, SS Tunç, SS Konya, SS Güneysu and SS Aksu. One ship, the SS Dumlupınar brought around 1,000 sick Greek children aged 13–16 to İstanbul to recuperate in a safe place.

The documentary film

Year	Name	Country
1883	SS Euripides	Greece
1896	SS Razeto	Italy
1897	SS Bratia Paramonovi	Russia
1901	SS Cephalonia Vagiano	Greece
1905	SS Michael Archangel	Russia
1915	N41	Russian Navy
1918	SS Michael Archangel	Serbia
1924	SS Teşvikiye	Turkey
1930	SS Bülent
1934-1942	SS Kurtuluş

Turkish writer-researcher-film director Erhan Cerrahoğlu undertook research work to produce a documentary on SS Kurtuluş and on the relief campaign the ship was part of. The wrecksite was identified in summer 2005, by the diver Prof. Erdoğan Okuş and his team. Unfortunately, the shipwreck was found demolished.

The documentary film Kurtuluş Vapuru Belgeseli ("SS Kurtuluş: The Steamship that Carried Peace”) features images seen for the first time. The documentary debuted on 1 June 2006, during the 3rd International Istanbul Bunker Conference.

References

• Story of SS Film "2006 documentary "The story of the steamer Kurtuluş" by Erhan Cerrahoğlu & Prof. Erdoğan Okuş". http://www.sskurtulus.com Documentary film web site. http://www.sskurtulus.com/story.htm Story of SS Film. Retrieved 2007-04-22. 
• Article "Barışı taşıyan vapur: Kurtuluş (Kurtuluş: The ship that carried peace)" (in Turkish). NTV Turkey News Channel. http://www.ntv.com.tr/news/384389.asp Article. Retrieved 2007-04-22. 
• A History of Greece

Sources

• limited preview Maggie Black (1992). A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam the First 50 Years, pages 6-7, ISBN 0855981733. Oxfam.