Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/588

 576 GALLEY the best type of the war galley. The Roman trireme was about 105 ft. long by IT wide, and was manned by 170 rowers. After the time of Julius Csesar the trireme was 90 ft. by 10, differing from- the. Neapolitan and Maltese gal- leys, whose length seldom exceeded seven breadths. When propelled by both oars and sails their speed was very great, almost equal- ling at times that of the modern steamboat. In the ancient galleys each oar was pulled by a single man. The rowers were guided by the word of command or by the sound of a trumpet, and appropriate cries were adapted to each manoauvre. The Greeks sometimes had mu- sicians who regulated the movements by sing- ing or by playing the flute or harp. In place of a rudder, galleys were furnished with a large broad oar on each side of the stern, and some- times with two on each side. The galleys which under the eastern empire took the place of the trireme were of similar construction, but a little lower. They had two decks and two banks of 25 oars on each side, making 100 in all, were armed with a beak, and furnished with various engines for throwing darts and stones, or for dropping heavy weights on the deck of an enemy. After the invention of Greek fire, tubes for spouting this liquid were fitted to the bow, and the bulwarks and deck were sometimes covered with raw hide to pro- tect them from that thrown by an enemy. England under Alfred the Great excelled in her galleys, which carried from 40 to 60 rowers on each side. The forces of William the Con- queror were transported across the channel in galleys so small that they carried no more than 20 armed men besides the rowers. When Eichard Oceur de Lion went to the Holy Land in 1190, he had, besides other ships, 38 war galleys; and the Saracens fought him with similar vessels. They differed very little from those of the early eastern empire. Geoffrey de Vinsauf describes them as long and graceful, not high out of water, with two decks and two banks of oars, and armed with a wooden spur shod with iron. A smaller and lighter vessel, with one bank of oars, used for despatch boats and for throwing Greek fire, was called a galleon. From this time onward galleys again played an important part in the Mediterranean. They were much used also in the northern seas. In 1295 Eric, king of Norway, furnished Philip the Fair 200 galleys for use in the war with Edward I. of England. In the 14th century and after galleys were divided generally into three classes. The largest were 162 ft. long on deck and 133 ft. on the keel, with 32 ft. beam and a stern post of 23 ft. They had three masts with one large lateen sail on each, and 32 oars on a side, arranged in a single tier, each oar being pulled by six or seven men. The deck projected beyond the hull, so that the rowing benches were on the outside, where they were protected by bulwarks and were sometimes housed over and sometimes covered with an awning. The middle of the vessel from stem to stern was thus left clear. Gal- leys of the second class, or demi-galleys, were of similar construction, from 120 to 130 ft. long, 18 ft. beam, and from 9 to 10 ft. hold; they were furnished with two masts, and had 25 oars on each side. Quarter galleys had only from 12 to 16 oars on each side, and were of little utility excepting in fine weather. After the invention of gunpowder, the sharp beak for running down an enemy went out of use, and galleys were armed with cannon. The large vessels of the 15th century carried usu- ally three batteries forward, in tiers, the lowest consisting of two 36-pounders, the second of two 24-pounders, and the highest of two small guns. Three 18-pounders were mounted also on each quarter. Demi-galleys carried five guns forward and a number of smaller ones on the sides and stern. The Venetian galeass' (galeazza), one third larger than the ordinary galley, had a large towering structure on the stern, a castellated structure almost as massive on the bow, and was rowed by 300 galley slaves, whose oar benches were placed amid- ship. The galleon of this period was a sailing vessel. A small galley was called a galiot or galeotte. In 1540 Gustavus Yasa sent for Ve- netian workmen to build for him galeottes, galeres, and galeasses, which Glaus Magnus translates biremes, triremes, and quadriremes. Until near the close of the 18th century galleys made a part of the fleet of all maritime nations. They drew but little water, and were conve- nient for coast service ; and in calms and light winds, which often prevail in the Mediter- ranean, they had the advantage over a sailing vessel, being able to keep on her quarter out of the range of her guns. The advancement in naval construction and in navigation, and the improvement in guns and gunnery, finally put an end to the use of this class of war ships, which had dominated, the maritime world for more than 3,000 years. In the most ancient times, to row in the galleys was considered honorable. Among the early Greeks oarsmen were generally voluntary recruits, but at a later period prisoners of war were put to this ser- vice. The Carthaginians manned their galleys with captive Mauritanians. The Roman oars- men were at first citizens of the lower class, but eventually prisoners of war and slaves were also employed. A single doubtful passage in Valerius Maximus has led to the -supposition that criminals were sometimes condemned by the Romans to the galleys, but it is probable that they were first used for that purpose un- der the Byzantine empire. In the middle ages the galley rowers were convicts and infidel prisoners, who were chained to the benches on which they sat. The Turks and Barbary corsairs retaliated, and captured Christians were put to the same labor. In the 16th and 17th centuries France, Spain, and the Italian republics made use of galleys as places of pun- ishment for condemned criminals, who were called by the French galeriens, and by the