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20 Dec 55 Peter on board 'Alipore' Father 1, Hyde Park Place ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Constantinople (or rather) Bosphorus

20th December 1855

My dear Father

As you will see by my last letter, we have now been humbugging here nine days – with a fair wind all the time, except one day.

After that touchy affair that I mentioned in my last letter at the mouth of the Bosphorus, when we lost our anchor & 30 fathoms of chain as we anchored at Bouyoukdere* and the Captain detained the ship there some days with a fair wind all the time.

In the meantime I went down in the steamer to Constantinople & spent a day there. At last when a foul wind set in we started and had a day’s work at heaving up the anchor to get about a mile further down & then into deep anchorage again.

The next morning when we got the anchor off the ground the current carried us in close to the shore and we were not half the ship’s length from the houses which are built all along the Bosphorus down to the water’s edge.

Getting in under the hills we lost the wind and the ship became unmanageable and at the mercy of the current which would have carried us inevitably into some of the houses much to the consternation of the inhabitants if, owing to our getting into shallower water, the anchor had not again caught the ground & saved us.

The Captain immediately jumped into one of the boats and rowed for Constantinople to get a tug to tow us off but it was of no use as they were all engaged & he was not able to get up again against the current. In the night the current carried us out again and we were able to anchor safely out towards the middle.

At the present moment a tug is towing us off having arrived with the Captain on board this morning.

We passed one house yesterday which had evidently had the bowsprit of some ship into her. They are all built of wood and painted with bright colours and present altogether a most pasteboard appearance – and tho’ they are full of windows they cannot give much light as they are completely covered with curtains and blinds to prevent any one catching a glimpse of the lovely faces of the female portion of the establishment. Each house has its boat and boathouse (the same as ours have their coach houses) and in Summer the Bosphorus is covered with their swift gliding boats rowed by men in loose white clothes (like that shirt Mrs L gave me) and surmounted with the red Fez, the tassel flying about with the swiftness of the motion. Altogether they present a most fairy-like appearance. Something in the style of a get-up at Mdme. Vestris’.*

The scenery too of the Bosphorus itself in summer is unsurpassable – the glittering palaces, the gardens and fountains playing, look more like an illumination at the Theatre than anything else but do not go too near. The illusion will vanish entirely. Everything is gingerbread & pasteboard.

I told you that I was at Constantinople the other day but I will not now trouble you with an account as I hope to be home soon and give you a verbal and better description than I can do on paper.

I just visited the Bazaar & all that sort of thing and got a memento or two. I should have gone to St Sophia, the celebrated Mosque, but as I have seen the inside of a Mosque and did not feel inclined to take off my boots (having on a pair of Jackboots) and it being a very wet day and very cold, I gave it up and contented myself with imagining the interior. A chilly mass of lofty columns & with nothing to attract the eye but a number of wretched Turks going thro’ some of the most peculiar antics imaginable which constitutes their religion.

I had also in my mind the idea of the possibility of some Turk taking a fancy to my boots which were things unheard of in Turkey and in that case I should have been left in a pretty predicament.

I have to thank you for your numerous letters which I have mostly received. You have indeed been a capital Correspondent and I must thank you for all the newspapers too, which I have not received however.

I had 4 letters from Hanson’s the other day. One at length from Mary for which she kindly left me 1s. 4d. to pay – the same being also directed to Messrs. Harrison – there being no such people in Constantinople. 1s. 4d. and two stamps on it makes 1.6, but I do not think the letter is worth 2d. I suppose she will eat her Christmas dinner at home this year & hope she as well as every one of you may or rather by the time you have received this may have enjoyed it.

Love to my Mother

& all from

Your affect Son

Peter Laurie

* Bouyoukdere – Now Büyükdere, Turkey, a port on the Western shore of the Bosphorus, north of Istanbul

* Madame Vestris – Lucia Elizabeth Bartolozzi (1797-1856). At the age of 15 she married Auguste Vestris, a ballet dancer, who deserted her eight years later. However with dark, attractive looks and an excellent singing voice, she became known for her roles in Italian opera and went on to stage a series of burlesques and extravaganzas in London. The Bartolozzi family had occupied premises above the saddlery shop in Oxford Street where John Laurie and 'Lucy' Bartolozzi had known each other as children. They remained in contact at the time of this letter, so this reference to her was as a family friend, as well as a stage personality