30 



The second theory has been maintained by Stewechius and Castilo- 

 nius, namely, that the oars were in a broken line — three together, and 

 then a space intervening, and then three again; yet all on the same 

 line. Now, this would entail a great loss of power, and gain no ad- 

 vantage. 



The third is that of Sir Henry Saville : — That the oars rose at an 

 angle of 50° to the deck of the vessel, yet having only one bank of oars, 

 each series of steps containing a rower. The objection to this theory 

 seems to be the amount of beam not being in keeping with the term 

 "naves longse," which were eight times as long as broad. 



Yossius' theory is the fourth, that three men pulled at the same oar ; 

 yet in a 7revTr}K6vTopo$, if this theory is held, 100 men must have stood 

 across the beam of the Galley ; and supposing only 50 stood so, and the 

 oars not to be in the same parts of the Galley on each side, we have 8 

 times 50 (giving each man a foot to stand on), 400 feet, as the extreme 

 length of the rowing part of the Galley, without counting bow and stern 

 curves — a length utterly absurd. 



The fifth theory is that of Le Eoy, and is certainly a step in the 

 right direction, viz. that the oars were in an oblique line, yet one above, 

 or higher than the other, in a checquer form, but only one man to each 

 oar — a fact irreconcileable with the length of the oars used, 57 feet in 

 Ptolemy's, for instance, and the weight of lead attached to it. 



The sixth and last theory I hold to be the true one : it is that of 

 General Melville, — that the ancient Galleys had a gallery extending 

 round their sides, in which the rowers sat, at an angle of 45° or 50° to 

 the water's edge. That this gallery exists to a great extent in the 

 Venetian Galleys we know ; and that more than one used the oar we 

 learn from Suetonius, who says that the Liburnse of Caligula had ten 

 men to the oar, and that of Caius five. 



Montfaucon adds the following in defence of his theory of the Galleys 

 possessing three banks of oars : — " Supra majorum nauium carinam 

 latera in tres partes erant diuisa, quarum inferior, Oakaixoi, media 

 ^v^ta, superior Opavos uocabatur; unde remiges quoque diuersa sortie- 

 bantur nomina. In inferiori enim gradu qui stabant, eos Thalamitas, 

 in medio Zygitas et in gradu superiori qui collocati erant eos Thranitas 

 uocabant." 



Some indeed hold the word " trireme" to have been a generic name 

 for war vessels of all sizes ; that it is exceedingly improbable that more 

 than three rows of oars were ever in use ; and that the words " hexi- 

 remes," " quinqueremes," &c, were more applied to the size of the vessel 

 than the number of oars ; that no vessel of five ranks of oars, one over 

 the other, could be propelled, I believe certain ; that the number of men 

 to each oar varied with the size and weight of the oar, I think also to be 

 an indisputable fact. 



Dr. Smith says that the thalamites were placed immediately under 

 the thranites, but covered by the platform or gangway on which the 

 thranites sat. That they did not interfere with each other is indeed 

 manifest from Dr. Smith's experiment, designed by himself, which he 



