Sailing down memory lane

Mighty guest: The TCG Gediz, docked at Boustead Cruise Centre’s jetty, has been in service with the republic’s navy for 15 years.

ONE-hundred-and-twenty-four years ago, Ottoman frigate Ertugrul sailed down the Straits of Malacca en route to Japan on a diplomatic mission, during which she later encountered a typhoon, drifted onto a reef and sank with only 69 survivors rescued.

More than a century later, Republic of Turkey navy’s TCG Gediz retraces her predecessor’s steps, visiting the same ports and new ones such as Port Klang to commemorate 125 years of Japanese-Turkish relations from the fateful encounter.