Some Findings on the Employment of Galley Slaves as a Labour Force in the Ottoman Navy

Abstract

The Ottoman labour market was shaped around the basic principles and rules determined by the state. According to these principles and rules, among the needs of the state, military needs ranked first, and among them, the labour force requirement of the navy was at the top. Voluntary work was desired in the general labour policy in the Ottoman Empire. However, when labour force cannot be provided by volunteers due to insufficient supply of labour, as a necessity, prisoners were resorted to among alternative sources of labour. In parallel with the expansion of the lands and the growth of the navy in the Ottoman Empire, the labour deficit reached serious dimensions. For this reason, convicts were first employed as oarsmen in the navy from the 16th century onwards. Although there was a significant decrease in the need for oarsmen on ships because of the changes in naval technology, the employment of galley slaves was not abandoned. As a result of this, prisoners began to be employed in shipyards, though not on ships. On the other hand, upon seeing the expected benefit in convict labour, later, with the regulations made in the penal codes of the Tanzimat period, conviction of galley slave became permanent. In this research, the contribution of galley slaves to the labor market is tried to be analysed specifically for the Ottoman navy in the historical process starting from the Ottoman classical period and continuing until after the Tanzimat.