DECKED SHIPS. 



73 



of the gods ; and it was rather a pretext for resorting to prayer 

 than an instrument reliable from its strength and weight. " In 

 our day," says an eminent writer upon the art of ship-building, 

 "when every thing is calculated and weighed, and, even in this 

 most poetic of professions, tends to the driest and most prosaic 

 materialism, instead of the sacred anchor, cast in the midst of 

 prayer and sacrifice, we have the anchor of eight thousand 

 pounds." With all proper deference to the religious spirit of 

 this learned commentator, we may remark, without irreverence, 

 that even the most "poetic" of mariners would prefer a single 

 modern best bower to a dozen of the sacred anchors of the 

 Greeks ; and it can hardly be doubted that, if the latter them- 

 selves had been acquainted with the " anchor of eight thousand 

 pounds," they would have dispensed with both prayer and 

 sacrifice. Heaven helps those who help themselves. 



Every Greek vessel had a distinctive name, which was usually 

 of the feminine gender, and often that of some popular heroine. 

 In many cases, the name of the builder was added. 



After the Trojan War, the establishment of Greek colonies 

 upon foreign coasts, the commercial intercourse with these 

 colonies, and the very prevalent practice of piracy, contributed 

 largely to the improvement of ships and of navigation. For 

 many years no innovation was made upon the custom of employ- 

 ing ships with one rank of rowers on each side. The Erythraean 

 Greeks are supposed to have invented the biremes, with two 

 ranks, and the Corinthians the triremes, with three. Themis- 

 tocles, in the fifth century B.C., persuaded the Athenians to 

 build two hundred triremes, for the purpose of attacking 

 iEgina. Even at this period, vessels were not provided with 

 complete decks, some having partial decks, and some none at 

 all, the only protection for the men consisting in the bulwark. 

 The invention of decked ships is ascribed to the Thasians. 

 After Alexander the Great, the Rhodians became the greatest 

 maritime power in Greece. The Colossus of Rhodes, a brazen 



