PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 535 



proper; they appear to have been connected with tlie war navy' with- 

 out themselves being men-of-war; they were, however, hke nien-of-wa. , 

 provi(kHl witli a ram.- 



Ahno.st fifty years now pass, until in tlie year !> b. c. Drusus Ger- 

 manicus, the first Roman genera! who ascended as far as the North Sea, 

 gave a victorious battle to the Bructers upon the Ems. Strabo, in his 

 account, unfortunately does not minutely describe the vessels em])loyed 

 by the latter, yet they appear to ha^'e been rather unsubstantial struc- 

 tures. 



A better account is gi^'en by Vellejus Paterculus, who about o a. d,, 

 under Tiberius, served as i)refect of cavalry; lie gives theni^ as " cava- 

 tiiin, at illis II10.S est, ex materia,'''' thus indicating them to have been 

 dugout; and in such a. vessel, capable of accommodating but one i)er- 

 son, the chief of the Xorthalbings, the people occupying the territory 

 adjacent to the mouth of river Elbe, paid his respects to the conqueror. 



Such a dugout, now in the museum at Kiel, was found in the Wol- 

 burgsau marsh in South Ditlunarschen ; it is 11 feet long, 2 feet wide, 

 1 foot deep, and is hollowed out of an oak tree.^ 



In 15 A. D. Clermanicus^ had built near the mouth of the river Khine 

 one thousand ships with sharp prows, but wide, to better resist tlie 

 waves; some with flat bottoms, to enable them to run ashore with im- 

 punity; ui)on a number of them steering apparatus were provided at 

 both ends, so as to permit propulsion in either direction. Many were 

 decked, for the accommodation of throwing machines. Equally useful 

 for sailing and rowing, they were im])osing and serviceable and inspired 

 the soldier with confidence. The fleet succeeded in reaching the mouth 

 of the river Ems, but, after a victory over the Oheruskers it was ship- 

 wrecked in a storm, although the wind blew from the south.*^ 



' Civsar : De Bell., riv. i, 84, 2: " profeetum Doniinifium ad occiqjandum MassiJiam 

 navibim (utitariis scptem;'' iii, (i2, 2: "His paralis rebus, magnum, numenim levis arma- 

 iiirw cl saf/iltarionnii aggeremqnc omnem nocfn in seaphas et itavcs actnurias imponil;" 

 iii, 102, 5: ''(Pompejns) bidiium. iempesiate rcteiitHs, naribiisqiie nliis additis uetnariis 

 in Ciliciam atque inde (Ujpnbm pervcuit." 



-De Bell. Alex., 44 : "naoibns actuariis, quani nunurns (i-fil satis niafpiHS, magnitudine 

 qitamqimm non satis iiisfa ad 2)roeliandum, rostra impositit. Ciies: de Bell. Goth., iii, c. 

 xiii : "neqne enim his noslrir. rostra nocere pofcranf."' A similar I'emark is made iu caji. 

 xiv. The rostrum {tttSn/oi:) supplied a very tnriuidable iustrumeut of aucient naval 

 warfare. It was a beam springing frf)m a part just below th(^ prow and topped 

 with sharp iron points or an iron representation of a ram's head. Though formerly 

 always above the water, they were in later times placed below it, and thus rendered 

 more dangerous. Lamaitre: Revue archeologiqne, 1883, p. 142: "Arme'e d'un eperoii, 

 elle sejetait comme unjareJot s)ir ses adrcrsaircs pour 1r^ frapprr {fan coup mortel.'' 



■'Vellejus Paterculus, ii, e. 107. 



^Archiv der Sehleswig-Holstein Lauenbnrg, (xesellsch. f. vaterl. Geschichte, Bd. 

 XXIII, 4te Folge. Jahrliiicher filr die Landeskunde, Bd. xri. Zeitschrift d. Ges, f. 

 d. Gesch. d. Herzogt. Schh-swig-Holst. Lauenb., Bd. ii, 1872, 



-'Tacitus, Ann., 6. 



'' Tacitus, Ann. ii, 28. 



