Seyit Çabuk

Seyit Ali Çabuk (1889-1939), usually called Corporal Seyit (Seyit Onbaşı) was a First World War gunner in the Ottoman Army. He is famous for having carried three 275 kg shells to an artillery piece during the Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915.

Born in the village of Havran, he enlisted into the army in April 1909. After serving in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 he was transferred to the forts defending the Mediterranean entrance to the Dardanelles. Following the heavy naval bombardment of the forts guarding the Narrows on 18 March 1915, the gun he was serving in the Mecidiye fort remained operational but its shell crane had been damaged. Seyit carried three 275 kg artillery shells up to the gun enabling it to continue firing on the attacking Allied fleet. One of the shells reputedly hit the British pre-dreadnought HMS Ocean, although the ship was sunk by a mine laid by the minelayer Nusret.

Following the repulse of the naval assault, Seyid was promoted to corporal and publicised as an iconic Turkish hero.

He was discharged in 1918 and became a forester and later coal-miner. He took the surname Çabuk in 1934 with the passing of the Surname Law. He died of a lung disease in 1939.

A statue of him carrying a shell was erected in 1992, just south of Kilitbahir Castle on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Medals

 * TUR Harp Madalyasi BAR.svg Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire)