53G REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



The occurrence of a general wreckiug' of an entire lieet wlieu tlie 

 wind was offshore does not speak well for tlie constructiou of the ships; 

 inexperience with the dangers and the coasts of the ISTorthern seas 

 and storms, liowever, may enter somewhat as an argument in favor of 

 the construction, although it may here be mentioned that the war- 

 ship of antiquity was of slight build, shallow upon the keel, and drew 

 about 1 meter of water,' and that their construction was effected in a 

 comparatively short time.^ 



A progressive ratio in the art of naval construction thus becomes 

 apparent as we recede westward from the river Elbe, where at the time 

 of the Roman invasion dugouts only, of small capacity, represented 

 the vessels of the occupants of the north coast of continental Euroiie. 



During the years 1885 to 1889, while excavating for a free port at 

 Bremen, seven canoes were discovered in the alluvial land on the out- 

 side of the Weser dike at depths of from 2 metei^s (Gi feet) to 4 meters 

 (13 feet) below the present surface level. They were dug out of the 

 trunks of oaks — axes apparently having been emi)loye(lfor the purpose — 

 flat-bottomed and without keel, but with the i)row cut obliquely, and 

 with auger holes i^rovided for the insertion of the oars. Of the seven 

 canoes four were entirely demolished ; of the remaining three the dimen- 

 sions were 10.5 meters (35 feet) long, 0.75 meter (2 feet (5 inches) wide; 

 10 meters (33 feet 4 inches) long, 1.25 meters (3 feet (> inches) Avide; 

 8 meters (26 feet 7 inches) long, 1.20 meters (3 feet 3 inches; wide, with 

 a height of from 50 to 70 centimeters (1 foot 5 inches to 2 feet 2 inches).' 



I am also informed that several other specimens of this type are pre- 

 served in the municipal museum at Bremen. 



The most progressive of the coast tribes appear to have been the 

 Chauci, Frisians, and Batavi. The elder Pliny* speaks of the piratical 

 ships of the Chauci which visited the rich provinces of Grallia and 

 carried retribution. They still were only dugouts, but able to carry 

 thirty men. It was the lirst time that Teutons had A^entured upon the 

 open sea, and this venture formed the beginning of the naval enter- 

 prises of our ancestors of the northern coast of continental Europe; in 

 tact they soon became chmgerous to such a degree that Corbuh), the 

 governor of ^Netherlandish Germania, in 47 A. D. was obliged to call 

 out the- entire fleet of the Rhine to keep the enemy in check.'' 



' Lemaitre, Revue arclieologiqiie, 1883, 1, p. 146; Assnuon), Znr Keniitniss (lev anti- 

 ken Schift'e— Jahrbuch d. Kais. Deut.sch. Arrhiiolog. Inst., 1889, 1610, 1626. Ber- 

 liner philol. Wocliensclir. 1888, No. 1, p. 28; lininit, Verlinu<l. d. Hr« Philol. Ver.s., p. 

 177. Luebeck, Das Seewe.sen der Griecheu und Riimer, 1890, p. 10. 



- Pliii. Nat. hist., xvi., 74; Brosiufi, iv, 7; I'oUjh., i. :!8. 5f. ; rV/'.v. Bell., civ. i. 36; Ars- 

 mann, Antike Scbiffe, p. 1600. 



•'Comrannicated hy Prof. Dr. F. P>ufhenaii, thrniii>h thn roiiriesy of Dr. M. Liude- 

 mann, Bremen, April 25, 1892. 



* rUmj : Hist. Nat. xvi, c. 76. 



6 Tacit: Annal. xi, c. 18. 



