The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-01
BUCKNAM PROUD Of
HAMID|EH'S FEATS
American Soldier of For
tune Heads Turk Navy
HAS FAITH IN TURKEY
People Will Prosper, He Says, When
Confined to Asia, Where They Be-
long-Popular Conception of
Abdul Hamid Is Wrong
HAS FAITH IN TURKEY
rom the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
| London.-Bucknam Pasha, the American
rear admiral of the Turkish navy. who
is in London on business, gave the New
York Times's correspondent an interview
on Turkeys future, the exploits of his
navy In the Balkan war, and his reminis-
cences of ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid.
! This soldier of fortune. who sailed away
from Cramps yards in Philadelphia nine
years ago in charge of a gunboat built
| for the Turks, and remained to captain
the vessel because the purchasers had no =
body qualified for that position, has been
| the leading authority at the admiralty
in the recent war and was responsible for
the cruiser Hamidieh escaping from the
Dardanelles. which resulted IN such dira
disaster to the Greek merchant and trans
port fleet.
Although still an American citizen, he
intends to reside permanently in Turkey,
where he has acquired large interests IN
the shape of concessions. lie will return
next week to Constantinople to take up
| his official duties.
Is Optimistic
lie Is optimistic concerning the future
of the Ottoman empire and says that the
Balkan difficulties will take another year
| to straighten out Then Turkey will
settle down for a period of great prosper
ity-in Asia instead OF Europe. where as
| BucSnam Pasha expressed it. Turkey
never had any right to be, anyhow"
The admiral spoke feelingly of the fact
| that he was no longer on active sea duty,
recalling the incident of a few years ago
when, under his command, the Turkish
| fleet sailed to Mitylene, which place he
decorated with the Stars and Stripes ana
proceeded to give Fourth cf July cele-
bration He said
| II manage to read the New York Times
| occasionally and have noticed that re-
| Gently the paper gave considerable pub
| licity to the exploits of the cruiser Ham
| idieh, even printing picture of her and
her captain Raouf Bey. So l am glad to
give some additional details which are
of interest.
"Raouf Is only 26 years old, but speaks
| perfect English and is far more an Amer
lean in his ideas than a Turk. In fact,
1t has been generally reported in all the
| waters where the Hamidieh pursued her
destructive career that the commander
was an American. This report was first
| spread when the Hamidieh came along
side a British merchantman beyond the
Dardanelles in an Egyptian coaling port
| Raouf yelling through a megaphone tc
the British commander:
|
send word to Bucknam that I'm having
the time of my young life
! This good American expression Raoui
picked up from me. for he had been in
my charge ever since | went to Turkey
The Sultan, Abdul Hamid. asked me I.
pick out Turkish naval officer as an as
sistant l chose Raouf, then a mere
lad.
Trained Hamidieh's Commander
Sput him tn Amerca tbree times tf
study American naval tactics, and once
accompanied him. When we We're re
ceived at the White House Presiden
! Roosevelt was so Interested in Raoui
that he held up an important appoint
ment for 45 minutes to converse with him
At the end President Roosevelt said IC
me:
"If they are all like this fellow yol
will soon have navy over there
| But | had to reply that unfortunately
Raouf was about the only one of his
kind.
"At the beginning of the Balkan wal
we figured that Greece had practically
one ship, the Averoff, superior to our en-.
tire force Our plan i'm getting the Ham.
idieh through the Dardanelles was to lure
the Averoff in pursuit and thus allow
our other vessels to escape the blockade
but the AVeroff did not lure. so the
| Hamidieh performed single handed what
regard as the greatest feat in modern
naval warfare. She sunk six Greek ships,
among them the new 10,000-ton trans
Atlantic liner Macedonia and two ships
loaded with Servian soldiers, besides doing
incalculable damage to island and coast
fortfications. AT last reports Raouf was
at Suez and it is unlikely that he will
recognize any peace negotiations unless
he is called home.
"What do l think of Turkeys future