History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 1 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

Their outfit.

Beaks.

Stern.

Masts and sails.

With reference to their outfit, it is sufficient to state that, in nearly every instance, they were highly ornamented with figures carved on the bow and stern. Below the bow, and between it and the fore-foot or keel, there was generally a projecting piece of very strong timber, to which was attached either a ram’s head, sharp metal bolts, cleavers, or some other instrument of destruction. These beaks were at first constructed so as to be visible above the water, but afterwards they were immersed, like the beaks of the iron-clad rams of our own time, themselves evidently copies from the original Grecian and Roman designs. The most trustworthy illustrations of these have been taken from the Trajan column and a few coins of the period, of which the accompanying drawings are fair representations. Nearly the whole of the ancient war-galleys had their bows and sterns considerably elevated above the level of the deck. From the former, or the “coursier”—centre platform—an officer regulated the duties of the rowers; whilst the pilot directed, from the quarterdeck, the course of the ship. In many cases, this officer sat under a highly ornamented canopy, from which he issued his commands, and behind it there was usually carved the image of the tutelar deity of the galley. From the flag-staff floated her ensign or private signal; and, sometimes, a large vane on the taffrail pointed to the direction of the wind. On the column of Trajan a lantern is shown suspended close to the stern in one of the galleys. Each trireme carried two wooden ladders and three “spreads,” poles of different lengths. Although the oars were the chief means of propulsion, almost every vessel above the size of a trireme had either one or two masts, but one of them, from raking forward and being comparatively small, resembled in many respects a bowsprit, so that, practically, there was only one mast except in very large vessels, which, with the yard and square sail attached, usually completed their rig. The portion of the mast immediately above the yard formed a “top,” or structure similar to a basin, serving for the purpose of a look-out or as a place from which arrows or other missiles could be discharged. All the Athenian galleys had square sails only, as may be seen in numerous illustrations; and it is very questionable if any of the Greek vessels used topsails of a triangular form, Δ, though they were known to the Romans;[382] but, from their form, the wide part being attached to the yard and the point reaching the topmast head, they could, under any circumstances, have been of very little service, and none whatever when the wind was abeam or before the beam.

Oars.

The oars varied in size according to the bank on which they were used, of course increasing in length as they ascended. Their length in a trireme is stated at from 9 to 9¼ cubits, but no mention is made of the part of the vessel to which they belonged. An oar, however, of only fourteen feet in length could have been of no service unless used on the lowest rank and almost on a level with the water. Those employed in the smallest wherries of the Thames are from twelve to fourteen feet long. Thucydides,[383] in describing the attack of the Peloponnesian commanders on the Piræeus, the harbour of Athens, remarks, “The plan was that each sailor should take with him his oar, his cushion and his thong, and go by land from Corinth to the sea over against Athens, and, proceeding with all speed to Megara, should put off with forty triremes which happened to be at Nisæa, their naval station, and sail immediately for Piræeus.” From these remarks it may be inferred that none of the oars belonging to a trireme were of greater weight than one man could carry for a distance of four or five miles; and that only one man was stationed at an oar, unless “his oar” might be construed as meaning the oar under his charge. But though no mention is made of different-sized oars having been used on board of a trireme, there can be no doubt that the oars of the ancients differed far more in size than those of the river barge or man-of-war sweeps as compared with the sculls of the Thames wherry of modern times.

Mode of rowing.