166 Remarks on the Site of Troy 
size of his fleet, let us enquire whether he is 
not here, as in other statements, perfectly 
consistent; if he is, we again contend that 
it is an argument for the truth of his account. 
The number of ships enumerated in the list 
given by Homer amounts to 1186. The 
large ones are calculated to have contained 
120 men, and the small ones fifty, that is, 
on an average, 85 men to each vessel. (9) 
For the breadth of a ship, built as they were 
in former times, and adapted for conveying 
85 men with provisions and warlike stores, 
we cannot suppose it too much to allow 18 
feet; and for the breadth of the passages be- 
tween them 8 feet more; for though Ajax is 
represented as leaping from ship to ship, 
which indeed he might do on our supposition, 
yet the room occupied by the ladders, added 
to that necessary for passage, must have been 
considerable. ‘This estimate gives us 26 feet 
for each ship with its passage, which, multi- 
plied by 1186, gives for the space required 
for the fleet, if ranged in a single line, 30,836 
feet, or if in a triple line, 10,277 feet; that 
is, about 2 miles, the actual distance between 
the two promontories stated by Homer to 
have been covered by the fleet. 
(9) See Rennell’s “Observations on the topography of the plain of 
Troy,” page 80, in the notes, containing a translation from Thucydides, 
and his own remarks. 
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