⛵ Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey-Edmund Giraud

Edmund Giraud’s Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey is a captivating memoir of a lifetime spent enjoying sport and exploration along the Aegean coast. Set primarily around Smyrna (modern İzmir), this work blends personal recollections with vivid observations of nature, travel, and cultural encounters during the late Ottoman and early Republican periods.From his earliest years, Edmund Giraud was drawn to the outdoors, influenced by his father and grandmother. At fifteen, he began shooting, and soon after became passionate about fishing—especially for Gilthead—encouraged by Miltiades, the Greek boatman who worked for his grandmother. These early experiences would shape a lifelong passion for outdoor sport, forming the core of Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey.Yachting soon joined fishing and shooting as one of Giraud’s great loves. His first boat, a 34-foot yawl named Helen May, was purchased in 1910. It gave him the freedom to explore the coastlines of the Gulf of Smyrna, fish off Long Island, and enjoy hunting trips with friends and fellow sportsmen. The prewar years, from 1908 to 1914, were what Edmund Giraud describes in Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey as the golden age of sport. From the piers of Smyrna Bay to the wildfowl-rich marshes of Gellat and Mermere, it was a time of rich harvests and joyous camaraderie.However, the outbreak of World War I changed everything. Yachting was suspended, his beloved Helen May was requisitioned, and weapons were surrendered. Though game flourished in the absence of hunters, the war marked a sharp disruption. Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey recounts this period of pause and loss, contrasting it with the lively scenes of prewar sport.In the postwar years, Edmund Giraud returned to the wilds with new energy. With Greek villagers gone and sporting traditions fading, Giraud adapted by building his own shooting-box and purchasing boats to regain access to Mermere Lake. Independence became key. He controlled one of the finest shooting grounds in the region, and his later vessels—the second Helen May in 1929 and the 130-ton Lady May in 1932—enabled him to travel far beyond his old haunts.With the Lady May, Giraud expanded his voyages to the Aegean islands—Chios, Imbros, Patmos, Rhodes—and along the Turkish coast, mixing sport with hospitality and cultural interest. In Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey, he shares stories of hosting villagers for deckside cinema, revisiting childhood places, and meeting figures like Mustafa Kemal Pasha, all while trolling for Pagrus or duck hunting at dawn.Geographically rich and emotionally reflective, Days Off with Gun, Rod & Yacht Around Izmir, Turkey traces Edmund Giraud’s life from youthful apprentice to seasoned sportsman and yachtsman. Through changing political landscapes, shifting borders, and disappearing traditions, Giraud's love for the sea, land, and game endures. His memoir is not only a tribute to a vanished way of life but also a personal navigation through history, adventure, and deep affection for the natural world around İzmir.