Yasar Kaptan

The ship keel was laid on September 1st, 1973 at the Deniz Insaat yard in Buyukdere. It was launched on July 28, 1974 and completed on February 3rd, 1975. The ship has a single screw, reaching a maximum speed of 12.5 knots.

The vessel sailed initially under the name of ABDI KOLOTOGLU, owned by Kolotoglu Denizcilik Ltd.

In 1985 it was sold to Kamil Denizcilik ve Ticaret AS.

In 1987, the ship and 10 crew members were detained in Barcelona, when the Spanish police captured 26kg of heroin which were brought into Spain aboard the vessel (El Pais, Feb 12, 1987)

In 1993, the ship is sold to Ifran Denizcilik ve Ticaret AS and renamed HACI NIHAT DOGRUYOL.

The last owner was Arcu Denizcilik ve Ticaret AS, who bought it in 1996 and gave it its final name, YASAR KAPTAN.

During its life, the vessel was detained multiple times, out of which I was able to retrieve the following dates: Sep 24, 1998 - Greece, Patra ; Aug 6, 1999 - Russian Federation, Tuapse ; Dec 27, 2000 - Russian Federation, Novorossiysk.

On Saturday, September 29, 2001, the vessel was en route from Bosphorus to Tulcea, loaded with magensite ore. While abeam Constanta, at 1953, an SOS was issued. The fast patrol boat 28, commanded by lt. col. Traian Serban, was dispatched to the coordinates. The navy ship left the harbour at 2015, and it arrived to the incident site at 2220. Lycorn, a ship belonging to Petromar, also responded to the SOS.

The crew of Yasar Kaptan were found near the ship, into a boat and a rescue raft. They have refused to abandon the ship and board the navy vessel until 0130, when Yasar Kaptan went down. The last man to leave Yasar Kaptan was the captain, Yigit Iacoup.

The sailors arrived in Constanta harbour at 0630 in the morning, in good health.

The wreck was located by GEOECOMAR while performing a bottom scan. It was first dived on August 25, 2018 during an expedition organized by Respiro Underwater Society. The diving team was made up by Andrei Badiu, Calin Tarean, Cezar Dinca, Emil Serbanescu, Gabi Ungureanu, Mihai Sava, Mircea Popa, and Victor Stanescu, with surface support provided by Rolando Bulgarelli.

The wreck was identified due to Victor Stanescu's research into the Miramar Ship Index. The vessel was recorded as “foundered 44 13N/29 17E 30.9.01 [Turkey-Tulcea, magnesite ore]”. The identification was later confirmed by photos found by Gabi Ungureanu and me, which fully match the images and videos recorded during the dive.

The ship lies upright on a sandy bottom at a depth of 48 meters. The wreck is in a very good state of conservation. It offers many penetration opportunities to the command castle. The helm is in place and can be easily observed. At the bow, both anchors are in position, also easy to spot.