PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 637 



The rig was of simple nature, and although carrying one square sail, 

 both mast and sail were taken down before battle or in making x>ort.' 



The Homeric ship carried one mast of fir, the foot of which, resting 

 in a square hole in planks fastened upon the keel, found support in a 

 frame formed of stout j)lanks. In order to facilitate the lowering of 

 the mast without unshipping it, the mast frame was open aft and ex- 

 tended to the sail thwart, a beam connecting the heads of a pair of 

 ribs about amidships into which a semicu'cular excavation had been 

 cut which afforded the mast support against the wind pressure. 



In the northern ships the mast rests in oaken beams laid amidships 

 along the keel and slotted to admit the frames; over this another oaken 

 block cut to admit the beams. This block is clamped from the middle 

 to each end and formed like a tish-tail. It is further fixed to the beams 

 by knees of crooked timber heads and has a h)ng opening in the back 

 part to facilitate the lowering of the mast. 



In consequence of their build and simple rigging the ships of an- 

 tiquity are said to have resembled modern river ships rather than sea- 

 going vessels,^ and their main strength consisted in the rowing by 

 which, independent of favorable wind, they were enabled to hurl them- 

 selves upon the enemy.^ Consequently, the greater part of the ship 

 was occupied by rowers with little accommodation for the crew.* Fre- 

 quent landings, however, were made for the preparation of the meals^ 

 and for the night. According to the number of oars on each side the 

 vessels were classed, and fifteen and twenty-five seaters appear to have 

 been predominating in the southern seas in the sixth century B. C, 

 while among the Scandinavians the sixteen and twenty seaters appear 

 to have taken a i^rominent part as regular war ships. 



In order not to disturb the lowering of the mast into the longitudi- 

 nal space left for the purpose, the rowers' benches could not be placed 

 across the entire ship, and they must be thought as loose boards or 

 small seats extending along the inner board wall, in which case they 

 were connected at one end to the board wall, and with the other end 

 resting upon supports formed by longitudinal beams which, amidships, 

 reached along the entire length of the ship. 



In the i^ydam boat — without mast — the thwarts were placed across 

 the entire ship at the height of the frame heads, and at that height 

 they may have served as seats for the rowers. In the Gokstad ship 

 the beams rested upon the tenth strake — that is, about 30 inches above 



h\ Henlc : Die Kriegsfiibruug ziir See, p. 22; Werner: Besprechung von Brunu's 

 Axoros, in Gottingeu gel. Anzeig., 1882, p. 237; Breiising: Nautik der Alten, p. 71. 



'^Grascr: Pliilol., xxxr, p. 35. 



^Lemaitre: Revue Arclieol., 1883, i, j). 142. 



* Xenoph : Oekonoin., viii, 5. 



^r. Herik: Die Kriegsfiihrung zur See, p. 23; Cartaiilf : La triere Ath<?n., p. 241; 

 Lemaitre : Revue Arclieol., p. 144; Asumann : Seeweseu, p. 1626; Thulcyd., iv, 26; 

 VIII, 26, 101; Xvnoph.: Hell., i, 6, 26; ii, 1, 27; Eyrbyggia Saga, c. xxxix; Bergens 

 Bylov, IX, 16. 



