Hence there is no doubt that the Speronara represents a Phœnician type of boat, in which the steering oar is replaced by a rudder.
There is no entire agreement as to the place occupied by the ram. Some persons place it above, others below the load-water line. Be this as it may, it is found on all the ancient models and, in most cases, the bottom line of the ship is prolonged in a straight or a slightly curved line as far as the ram.
The constant presence of this latter element in the reproductions, allows the conclusion that it was placed not below but above the water. If the contrary had been the case, the ram could not have made so great an impression on the painters and sculptors. As for the rest, all the ancient types, on which traces of a ram are found, carry this element above the water line.
The fact that the bottom line ended in the ram, does not prove that this latter was below the water, for this line was invisible, and the draughtsmen, who were uninitiated in the art of shipbuilding, not knowing any other means for representing it, cut the ship off at the water line; but as the drawing then appeared rather strange, they added a curved line joining the ram to the sternpost.
If several of the old pictures be considered from this standpoint and if the curious bottom lines drawn by the draughtsmen be covered by better lines borrowed from the Speronara or from ancient galleys, these reproductions acquire a wholly different meaning.
If little be known about the ancient Phœnician boat, a more thorough knowledge of the Greek or Roman ship has been reached, through researches, especially in the matter of dimensions.
It is settled that the Ancients had dock yards containing sheds for the shelter of vessels from which the running rigging had been removed while the standing parts were left. (See: Das Seewezen der Gr. und R. by Dr. EM. LÜBECK, 1890, p. 2.) These sheds give an idea of the sizes of their ships.
The excavations made by Lieutenant von Alten (Das Seewesen der Gr. und R., p. 5), attached to the Imperial German Archeological Institute (1876-1877), have shown that the figures given by Graser are inaccurate. The dimensions of eight docks could be measured at Munichia, and these structures were 6.25 m. wide by 21.20 m. long.
Later excavations brought to light at Zoa some docks 5.50 m. wide and about 40 metres long, measured along the bank. (Das Seewesen der Gr. und R., idem p. 6.)
The dimensions of the ships must, therefore, have been relatively small.