Canım Hoca Mehmed Pasha

Canım Hoca Mehmed Pasha (also known as Canum Hoca in European sources) was an 18th-century Ottoman admiral who served three times as Kapudan Pasha (grand admiral of the Ottoman Navy).

Originally a Muslim from the fortress town of Koroni in the southwestern Peloponnese (in southern Greece), Canım Hoca Mehmed was captured by the Venetians during the Morean War (1684–1699) and served seven years as a galley slave in the Venetian fleet, until ransomed for 100 gold ducats.^[1] He entered his first term as Kapudan Pasha in December 1714, upon the outbreak of the war with Venice. He distinguished himself in this war through the capture of Tinos,^[1] as well as for his humane treatment of the Venetian captives in the Morea, in stark contrast to the brutal behaviour of the Grand Vizier, Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha.^[2] In a battle fought on 8 July 1716, he led the Ottoman fleet in the failed attempt to capture Corfu, the chief of the Ionian Islands, then under Venetian rule.^[3]

Dismissed from his post in February 1717, he regained it for a few days in 1730, and became once more Kapudan Pasha in 1732, holding the post until 1736.^[1]

References

Sources

• Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991). Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century. Philadelphia, Mass.: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-192-2. ISSN 0065-9738. 

Seamen of the Ottoman Empire Kapudan Pashas Zagan Pasha Veli Mahmud Pasha Gedik Ahmed Pasha Mesih Pasha Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha Süleyman Pasha Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Sinan Pasha Piyale Pasha Müezzinzade Ali Pasha Kılıç Ali Pasha Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha Kemankeş Mustafa Pasha Gazi Hüseyin Pasha Kara Musa Pasha Koca Musa Pasha Canım Hoca Mehmed Pasha Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha Baltacı Mehmet Pasha Koca Bekir Pasha Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha Other important seamen Kemal Reis Piri Reis Aydın Reis Turgut Reis Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis Salih Reis Seydi Ali Reis Murat Reis Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis