38 



though in more delicate lines, and with less proportional width, the 

 shape of those fast and beautiful little steamboats which ply daily 

 between London-bridge and Chelsea. Remove their paddles and ma- 

 chinery, and equip them as triremes, and you wculd probably turn out a 

 Galley with which a Greek or Roman shipwright could have found few 

 faults. 



The dimensions of these steamboats (which have been ascertained in 

 reference to this discussion) are as follows : — 



It is the great merit of these vessels that their draught of water is 

 so very little, in regard to their size and stability — an element of no 

 small consequence in the construction of any vessel impelled by oars. 



Those who are familiar with that delightful work of the immortal 

 Cervantes, will remember the picturesque and lively description of Don 

 Quixote and Sancho's visit to the admiral's Galley at Barcelona, where 

 the author (himself an accomplished seaman, who mentions, with honest 

 pride, the loss of his own hand at the great sea fight of Lepanto) gives 

 a spirited and graphic account of the manoeuvres of a Spanish Galley, 

 renowned for speed and beauty, in her rapid chace of a corsair. Any 

 one who will peruse this narrative, and then inspect the Maltese model, 

 before alluded to, will hardly entertain a doubt of the identity, in general 

 form and arrangement, of this kind of vessel with the Galley of Greece 

 and Rome. 



In one respect (but in reference to the rowers, and not the vessel), a 

 wide difference is to be remarked. The art of rowing, which was esti- 

 mated so highly by the ancients, had degenerated in latter times into a 

 labour for slaves, and was considered the vilest of toil : — 



To show how differently the Greeks viewed the skilful handling of the 

 oar, we have the curious story in the " Odyssey" of Elpenor, who fell 

 down drunk from a tower, and broke his neck. So proud does he 

 seem to have been of his " rowing," that, when his shade is represented 

 entreating for funeral honours to his corse, he specially requests that an 

 oar may be the distinguishing emblem upon his tomb ! Pope's transla- 

 tion of the passage is too graceful to be omitted : — 



Length, 



Width, or beam, ........ 



Draught of water, 



Height of deck from surface of water, 



Ft. 

 110 

 13 

 2 



2 0 



3 10 



In, 

 0 

 0 



" Some, plunged in mines, forget the sun was made ; 

 Yvhile others, deathless as their haughty lords, 

 Are hammered to the galling oar, for life, 

 To plough the winter wave, and reap despair !" 



" Then, high in air, memorial of my name 

 Raise the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame.' 



This paper has now, it is feared, exceeded due bounds, but there is one 

 point, in regard to ancient navigation, too remarkable to be passed over, 



