The İlkfer Maritime Museum in Tuzla, set to open in 2027, will highlight maritime history through İlker Meşe's remarkable collection.
The Memory of Maritime Navigation Will Be Preserved in Tuzla: İlker Meşe's Unique Collection Becomes a Museum
ISTANBUL – The İlkfer Maritime Museum, aimed at bringing to light the unseen history of commercial shipping, is preparing to welcome its visitors in Tuzla in the early months of 2027. Established with the long-standing collection of mariner and collector İlker Meşe, the museum will not only showcase old maritime objects but also transfer the labor, engineering, and maritime culture carried by commercial vessels to future generations.
Even before its opening, the museum stands out by welcoming visitors with a genuine maritime world formed by engine rooms, bridges, navigation tables, and technical equipment that ensures the safe operation of ships, rather than the glamorous façade of maritime navigation.
A Perspective from the Engine Room
The founder of the museum, İlker Meşe, shaped his collection not merely from a collector's viewpoint but through experiences gained from within the maritime profession.
Having developed an interest in maritime navigation during his years of boarding education at Kabataş High School, Meşe graduated from the Mechanical Department of ITU Maritime College in 1977. After serving on ships for over a decade, Meşe ventured into commercial life in 1989 but did not sever his ties with maritime navigation.
Among the significant pieces of the collection is a ship newspaper consisting of 18 issues that he prepared during an Australian voyage while serving as the third engineer on the Kocaeli vessel owned by Deniz Nakliyat. The newspapers, prepared on kraft paper, stand out as important documents reflecting the ship life of that era in a humorous and sincere tone.
Every Object Has a Story
İlker Meşe's understanding of collection is summarized by his statement: 'I do not acquire any object without a story.'
The common feature of the works in the museum is not only their age but also the traces they carry from the ships, sailors, and lived experiences they belong to.
FROM A SMALL KEY TO THE ANATOMY OF A SHIP ACCIDENT
The key belonging to the second engineer's cabin of the Tarsus vessel is one of the most striking examples of this micro-focused perspective. Meşe explains the weight carried by the key by saying, 'This is the only thing related to the ship. Everything else burned on the ship.' At first glance, this piece, which appears small and almost ordinary, opens up to a collision that occurred off Paşabahçe, a major fire, the sailors who lost their lives, and the adventurous past of the ship that later extended to America.
Starting from a single key, Meşe traces the ship's past, accident records, photographs, and testimonies, turning a small piece into the center of an entire ship biography. A similar story of tracing can also be found with the Aygaz vessel. In the small LPG ship that sank in a storm at the end of the 1960s, there were 19 people; 18 lost their lives, and only one person survived. Meşe pursued this accident, found the survivor, and spoke with him. His question is simple yet significant: 'Why did this ship sink?' The answer is not merely a technical explanation but offers a structural memory that extends to the shipbuilding practices of the time, maritime safety, and the risks of operating small vessels on long and challenging routes.
Tracing Ship Accidents
The research included in the collection is not limited to objects.
Investigating the causes of the accident involving the Aygaz LPG vessel that sank in a storm at the end of the 1960s, Meşe reached out to the only person who survived the incident and recorded what happened. Thus, not only the technical causes of the accident but also important information regarding the shipbuilding understanding of the time and maritime safety was brought to light.
Ships Connected to World History
The collection also connects Turkish commercial shipping with significant events in world history.
Documents, photographs, and archival works related to the Ankara vessel, which served as a hospital ship during the Pearl Harbor attack and was later transformed into a passenger ship upon arriving in Turkey, are among the important sections of the museum.
Additionally, the Black Sea Steamer, which was converted into a mobile exhibition ship to promote the young Republic in Europe, will also be presented to visitors with extensive research files. In this context, books from the period have been collected, and Ottoman instructions have been translated into modern Turkish.
Not to Scrap, but to Memory
The museum will showcase not only historical documents but also calibration devices, measurement equipment, machine parts, and bridge equipment.
These technical equipment will demonstrate that maritime navigation is not merely about romantic journeys; it is a profession that requires engineering, maintenance, control, and safety discipline.
İlkfer Group's Accumulation Transformed into a Museum
After his maritime career, İlker Meşe co-founded the İlkfer Group with Feramuz Aşkın in 1989.
Initially providing products and services, the company gradually evolved into a large structure encompassing international representations, calibration services, spare parts, fuel and oil analyses, and ship management software.
Meşe summarizes the emergence of the museum with the following thought:
'We made money from this profession. You must contribute to the place where you earn.'
The Story of Those Who Carry Turkey's Burden
Planned to open its doors in 2027, the İlkfer Maritime Museum aims to narrate commercial shipping in Turkey for the first time in its own language.
Visitors will have the opportunity to closely learn not only about ships but also about shipowners, officers, engineers, port culture, maritime safety, and daily life aboard ships.
The narratives in the museum will be conveyed to visitors through an audio guide system prepared in İlker Meşe's own voice.
Emphasizing that the history of maritime navigation is not solely about large ships, the museum reveals that even a machine telegraph, a bridge lamp, or a key left from a cabin can be an important document opening to the past. The message that not only metal but also the memory of maritime navigation has been saved from ships destined for scrap forms the fundamental approach of the museum.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
