Bodrum Sponge Divers: History and Legends

The sponge divers found the wrecks in Bodrum's Underwater Museum — yet no article told the divers' own story; across our 66-article archive this file never opened. Between 1945-1965 nearly 150 boats worked sponging from Bodrum, voyages stretched from Çanakkale to Libya, and the joy of returnees mingled on quays with the grief of the bereaved. This niche file tells sponge diving at length — 300 years of Aegean livelihood to Bodrum's golden age, bends medicine to collapse causes — grounded in the Bodrum Maritime Museum's research and diver interviews.

300 Years of Livelihood: From Kalymnos to the World

The oldest Aegean sponge note sits in French traveller Thevenot's 1686 book on Samos islanders' devotion to sponging. From the early 1800s Ottoman archives and foreign sources show major sponging, mostly around the Dodecanese; within Ottoman borders Kalymnos and Symi led the trade, divers mostly Greeks. Harvest grounds spanned the Aegean plus Libya, Egypt, Syria and Cyprus: an 1861 article counted 600 boats in Ottoman waters in 1858 (254 Kalymnian, 190 Symian); 1866 saw 800+ Syria-coast boats. Mid-1800s European industrial demand exploded Kalymnos from 7,600 to 23,200 souls between 1850-1912; 1930 production hit 48 tons. The 1865 Rouquayrol-Denayrouze suited apparatus stretched seasons from 4 to 7 months, reaching deep quality beds. Between the wars Kalymnos produced 25-40 tons yearly; 1935 counted 1,259 fishermen on 79 boats.

How Did Bodrum Turn Sponger? The Cretan Exchange Migrants

Stray naked diving near Kalymnos-adjacent Bodrum likely predates; evidence points to gangava and forma diving starting after Cretan exchange migrants settled. Pre-1923 Cretan waves mostly stayed in Kos; the exchanged resettled in Bodrum. Some, seafaring ones, worked transport and met sponging; some knew it from Crete's own beds. Timing unpinned, but post-settlement they moved into gangava, naked and finally forma (mancorna) diving. Key figure Ali Cengiz: working under a Greek woman sponge merchant in Symi he learned the craft, bought gear, returned to Bodrum and trained the first divers off Kumbahçe. Merchants Halil Bilgiç, İbrahim Levent and Ömer Cizdar followed; famed divers Lamlako Mustafa, Şeytan Ahmet (Denizkıran), Deli Hüseyin and Deli İbrahim rose. Even a sponge cooperative formed in 1950-55.

Techniques Glossary: From Naked to Hookah

• Naked diving: breath-hold, oldest method; near-zero investment, low yield. Even in 1935 a quarter of the Kalymnian fleet still dived naked.
• Gangava: seabed-towed net rig: a 6-10 m iron pipe with wheeled ends dragged behind the boat, chain ripping sponges into the sack. Zero risk, inferior quality and quantity; extinct today, visible only in pictures.
• Forma (mancorna): helmeted, hose-aired classic dress; the bends' deadliest era belongs to this suit.
• Hookah: topside-pumped air to mouth regulators; in 1957-58 two Istanbul youths, Baskın and Tosun, developed it and launched the frogman era. Regulator hookah curbed bends losses; soon compressor-filled scuba tanks followed.
• Bends and staged ascent: pressure-dissolved nitrogen bubbles in vessels on fast ascent; outcome disability or death. Surfacing in staged depth waits is "doing aksona." The cigarette test served as early diagnosis aboard; stricken divers were re-helmeted, re-immersed and staged up slowly. Survivors recovered in two weeks and dived again; the lost were buried at the first landfall.

The Sponge Economy: Who Earned What?

Sponge was more than bread; a regional finance system. Until 1950s synthetics, natural sponge served homes and industry alike, with Izmir port gating Aegean trade. Built export-oriented from the start — output hostage to nature, prices to distant markets, risks and short-term credit needs chaining the system in debt. Kalymnos ran thus: dead divers' families indebted to captains, captains to investors, merchant houses managing logistics from Paris-London centres. Household incomes answered the same determinants for nearly a century: nature, risk, maturity. Bodrum mirrored it; 150 boats' economy spilled from tırhandil yards to grocer ledgers peninsula-wide.

Golden Age (1945-1965): 150 Boats, 4-5 Month Voyages

Peak years 1945-1965: nearly 150 Bodrum boats worked sponging, and tırhandil building boomed with demand. In the 1960s Bodrum spongers voyaged from the Dardanelles to İskenderun, Cyprus and North African shores; voyages ran 4-5 months with loved ones waiting meraklı. In 1963 the Gavur Ali tırhandil was built for Libya runs. Returnees competed sweetly over biggest catches; every homecoming mixed joy and sorrow. Months lived in tiny boats, bends victims and the never-returned among them. Sponge was the region's most prestigious livelihood; its economy the apple of the eye.

Voyage Life: 4-5 Months Aboard

Voyages opened with farewell rites: blessing families waited ashore while boats vanished for months. Crews lived in tiny hulls working Libya-Egypt-Syria lines. Homecomings crowned biggest catches in sweet rivalry; survivors' bittersweet joy mixed with bereaved wails. Voyage dead went into the first shoreline, a few clothes came home. The Last Sponger documentary tells the cycle through the last Turkish-Greek spongers: old wolves who turned seas inside out revisit remembered beds off Bodrum and Kalymnos, recounting biggest sponges, bends agonies and lost friends.

Collapse: Synthetic Sponge and the 1986 Disease

The end came threefold. First technology: 1930s-40s synthetic sponges (viscose, rubber, plastic) ended natural sponge's monopoly; markets narrowed through the 1950s. Second ecology and regulation: uncontrolled harvest, gangava damage and state bans closed grounds. Third the 1986 disease smashing Mediterranean beds: sponges crumbled worthless, harvests crashing from 30,000 tons in 1986 to 3,000 in 1992; the disease returned in 1999 finishing most remaining beds. Post-WWII only Kalymnos survived among centres; Libya grounds closing under the Gaddafi regime shrank capacity further. Early 2000s Kalymnos kept 10 caiques, 2010 some 15-17 boats with 100-120 people and ~4 tons. Early 2000s Kalymnos kept 10 caiques, 2010 some 15-17 boats and ~4 tons. Bodrum ended the same way; recovery signs show, yet harvesting stays banned. Kalymnos keeps culture via museum and festival; Savaş Karakaş's "Last Sponger" documentary voices the last Turkish-Greek spongers.

Human Stories: Aksona Memet and Kirno

Behind figures stand people — fortunately some spoke. Mehmet Baş, "AKSONA MEMET," documented the era in his "Last Sponger" book. Hasan Dikan, "KİRNO," narrated sponging's past in 2002 university-homework interviews, passing at 84. Their accounts hold double-forma shifts (one surfaces, other dives), cigarette tests, and bends victims diving again after 15-day staged recoveries. Voyage dead went into the first shoreline; a few clothes came home. Families sending off husbands, brothers, sons and fathers with blessings lived bitter years. Bends survivors wrestled lifelong impairments. That this labour — once Bodrum's economic lifeblood — deserves memorialising is the interviewers' shared verdict.

Women and Shore: The Voyage's Other End

Sponging was men's work; women aboard counted as bad luck (legend holds a merchant's wife donned the suit before a crowd, breaking everyone's fear). But the shore economy rested on women: homes, fields, children and debts of 4-5-month-voyaged husbands fell to them; return joy and loss grief knocked on the same door. Care for bends-crippled returnees fell to families — mostly women. To grasp sponge history fully, look to shores, not boats; grandchildren of that waiting still live in Bodrum's back streets.

Traces Today: In Museums and at Sea

Bodrum Maritime Museum dedicates a section to sponging, telling this history where it belongs; its online research anchors the facts above. Most wrecks in the Underwater Archaeology Museum surfaced on spongers' tips — Yalıkavak's Mehmed Çakır who found Uluburun was a sponge diver. See our underwater museum guide. Tırhandils live on as trip boats; gangava boats survive only in pictures. Kalymnos visitors can tour its museum and festival; via Kos transfers see our getting-there guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are bends, what does aksona mean?

Bends (decompression sickness): nitrogen bubbling in vessels on fast ascent; disability or death. Aksona: staged-depth ascent waits. The aboard cigarette test served as early diagnosis.

Who brought the hookah system?

Two Istanbul youths in 1957-58, Robert College's Baskın Sokullu and Tosun Sezen. Their regulator hookah spread, cut bends losses, and stepped toward scuba tanks.

How did Bodrum turn sponger?

Exchanged Cretans started gangava, naked and forma diving; Symi-trained Ali Cengiz raised the first divers. The golden age ran 1945-1965 with ~150 boats.

Why did it end — is diving free today?

Synthetics killed markets, 1986 and 1999 diseases emptied beds. Recovery signs show, yet harvesting stays banned.

Where is sponging commemorated?

Bodrum Maritime Museum holds a dedicated section; Kalymnos runs a museum and festival. The "Last Sponger" book and documentary gather living testimonies.

Conclusion

In short: an Aegean story starting with 600 boats in 1858 moved to Bodrum with exchange migrants, peaked with 150 boats in 1945-65, closed with synthetics and disease. Museums, books and seabed wrecks remain. Remembering runs through museums: first the Maritime Museum's sponging section, then the Castle's underwater museum; together they complete Bodrum's history above and below the sea.