here is a motor yacht in Istanbul that people of a certain age, especially those familiar with the shores of this strait that separates Europe from Asia, know rather well: she is , named after a great pre-colonial American native leader who was among the founders of the six-tribe Iroquois Confederacy. The yacht in question, a commuter, was bought by the US Department of State in 1932 specifically for use on the Bosphorus by the American diplomatic mission in Turkey. The mover and shaker behind realising the order was Joseph C Grew (1880-1965), who was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkey between May 1927 and early 1932. The fact that Grew’s successor, Charles Hitchcock Sherrill (1867-1936), was on duty when the vessel was delivered, made many think that this former sportsman and military figure, who was appointed US Ambassador to Turkey (as a non-career purchase. In fact, that was not the case, and several cables, letters and other documents held at the US Consulate in Istanbul provide indisputable proof that the yacht has been a US government vessel from day one, and not a private vessel owned by Sherrill and subsequently donated to the diplomatic mission.
