Gold hilted yataghan

[Jim McDougall]

This is a most interesting topic concerning yataghans, which is a sword form whose variation and specific ancestry is often the subject of debate. It seems over the years there have been a number of vague references to 'naval yataghans' but none seem to have definition or corroborated support.
It would be surprising to discover a specific form designated or favored by the Ottoman navy and it would be interesting to see examples of yataghans with naval provenance. While practical perspective is considered for the materials of weapons used at sea, it would seem plausible that negative effects might effect choices, but not necessarily. The dress weapons for officers would reflect decorative fashion popular at the time, and with the elaborate costume of the Ottomans, practical austerity would be unlikely.
As for the sailors , "...galley sailors called levants were recruited from coastal Turks, Greeks, Albanians, Dalmatians and North Africans" (" Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774" Dr. David Nicolle, Osprey, p.25).
This would suggest these 'levants' *might have carried all manner of personal weapons from thier own homelands.
The Ottoman naval officers may have carried 'fighting' weapons of equally wide range, depending on personal choice or availability of local forms. These certainly would have included yataghans, less lavishly decorated.

* the most familar use of the term Levant is of course to the eastern shores of the Meditteranean and Aegean, esp. Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Best regards,
Jim