He lit up as he noted all the waterway’s gremlins, signaling toward buoys that marked a precariously shallow stretch of the strait, which separates the land masses of Europe and Asia. Ahead of Istanbul’s Yenikoy district, he noted, the ship would be required to make an 80-degree turn, one of 12 course changes in the Bosporus. Further south, the strait narrowed to 700 meters, then passed the “Devil’s Current” with a speed of about 4 or 5 knots. Currents in another area could reach 7 or 8 knots: So intense that “you can’t control the vessel,” he said.
Istanbul’s Bosporus strait focus of Turkish shipping debate
