Page:Heresies of Sea Power (1906).djvu/73

Rh In the events that followed, the trained seaman once in a way asserted himself. When Lilybæum and Drepanum were closely beleaguered, the skilled seamen of the Carthaginians succeeded in running through the blockading fleet and overcoming the obstacles placed by the Romans to prevent their ingress. At Drepanum, too, the skill of Adherbal and his sailors made short work of Claudius's 'soldiers at sea,' though even here the folly of Claudius in entering a hostile harbour without any precautions is sufficient to account for his defeat. Storms, too, wreaked upon the Romans disaster such as never befell the more experienced Carthaginians. In the end, however, by virtue of the corvi, or by virtue of being the fitter to win, the Romans gained the victory.

The war was won by Power of some sort—no war was so surely won by Power as this. But, if we examine that Power, what was it? What was behind the corvi, the particular weapon that overthrew the Carthaginian fleets? Nothing assuredly that Carthaginian seamen could not have copied structurally. They apparently made no attempt to do so. This may have been due to the conservatism so inherent with nautical men who as a class are averse to going either forward or backwards, and also partly due to the fact that behind the corvi were the Roman 'soldiers at sea.' We lack the necessary details to