134 
SHIP-BUILDING. 
materials, as the Egyptian reed papyrus; or leather, of 
which the primitive ships were frequently composed; the 
bottom and sides being extended on a frame of thin battens 
or scantlings, of flexible wood, or begirt with wickers, such 
as we have frequently beheld amongst the American savages. 
In this manner they were often navigated upon the rivers of 
Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sabsean Arabia, even in latter times. 
But in the first of them, we find no mention of any thing but 
leather or hides sewed together. In a vessel of this kind, 
Dardanus secured his retreat to the country afterwards called 
Troas, when he was compelled by a terrible deluge to for¬ 
sake his former habitation of Samothrace. According to 
Virgil, Charon’s infernal boat was of the same composition. 
But.as the other arts extended their influence, naval archi¬ 
tecture likewise began to emerge from the gloom of igno¬ 
rance and barbarism ; and as the ships of those ages were 
increased in bulk, and better proportioned for commerce, the 
appearance of the floating citadels of unusual form, full of 
living men, flying with seemingly expanded wings over the 
surface of the untravelled ocean, struck the ignorant people 
with terror and astonishment: and hence, as we are told by 
Aristophanes, arose the fable of Perseus flying to the Gor- 
gons, who was actually carried thither in a ship! Hence, 
in all probability, the famous story of Triptolemus riding on 
a winged dragon is deduced, only because he sailed from 
Athens, in the time of great dearth, to a more plentiful 
country, to supply the necessities of his people. The fiction 
of the flying horse Pegasus may be joined with these, who, 
as several mythologisls report, was nothing but a ship with 
sails, and thence said to be the offspring of Neptune, the 
sovereign of the sea; nor does there appear any other foun¬ 
dation for the stories of griffins, or of ships transformed into 
birds and fishes, which we so often meet with in the ancient 
poets. So acceptable to the first ages of the world were in¬ 
ventions of this nature, that whoever made any improve¬ 
ments in navigation or naval architecture, building new 
ships better fitted for strength or swiftness than those used 
before, or rendered the old more commodious by additional 
contrivances, or discovered countries unknown to former 
travellers, were thought worthy of the greatest honours, and 
often associated into the number of their deified heroes. 
Hence we have, in astronomy, the signs of Aries and Taurus, 
which were no other than two ships: the former transported 
Phryxus from Greece to Colehos, and the latter Europa from 
Phoenicia to Crete. Argo, Pegasus, and Perseus, were like¬ 
wise new ships of a different sort from the former, which, 
being greatly admired by the barbarous and uninstructed 
people of those times, were translated amongst the stars, in 
commemoration of their inventors, and metamorphosed into 
constellations by the poets of their own and of succeeding 
ages. 
The chief parts, of which ships anciently consisted, were 
three, viz., the belly, the prow, and the stern: these were 
again composed of other smaller parts, which shall be briefly 
described in their order. In the description, we chiefly 
follow Scheffer, who has so copiously treated this subject, and 
•with such industry and learning collected whatever is neces¬ 
sary to illustrate it, that very little room is left for enlarge¬ 
ment by those who incline to pursue this investigation. 
1. In the belly, or middle part of the ship, there was 
rpoiri ?, carina, or the “ keel," which was composed of 
wood: it was placed at the bottom of the ship, being de¬ 
signed to cut and glide through the waves, and therefore was 
not broad, but narrow and sharp; whence it may be per¬ 
ceived that not all ships, but only the paKgou, which ships 
of war were called, whose bellies were straight, and of a 
small circumference, were provided with keels, the rest 
having usually flat bottoms. Around the outside of the 
keel were fixed pieces of wood, to prevent it from being 
damaged when the ship was first launched into the water, 
or afterwards struck on any rocks; these were called 
y l e'kev<Ty.ona, in Latin cunci. 
Next to the keel was tpaXuii;, the “ pump well, or well- 
room,” within which was contained the avrXiov, or “ pump," 
through which water was conveyed out of the ship. 
After this, there was (jevreoa rpotti;, or the “ second keel,” 
somewhat resembling what is now called kelson; it was 
placed beneath the pump, and called Xe<r£iov, vaiX/ojye 
KXeiTomdiov ; by some it is falsely supposed to be the same 
with tpaXKi f. 
Above the pump was an holiow place, called by Herodotus 
KoiXyj TYj; vrjoc : , by Pollux kv to ; and ya^raa,, because large 
and capacious, after the form of a belly ; by the Latins 
testudo. This was formed by crooked ribs, with which it 
was surrounded, which were pieces of wood rising from the 
keel upwards, and called by Hesychius vo^ei;, and by others 
eyKotXia, the belly of the ship being contained within them: 
in Latin, costce; and in English, timbers. Upon these were 
placed certain planks, which Aristophanes calls evreocoveiecq, 
or errep&m§a. 
The later a, or “ sides” of the ship, encompassed 
all the former parts on both hands; these were composed 
of large rafters extended from prow to stern, and called 
and Z > uy.iay.ciTa, because by them the whole fabric 
was begirt or surrounded. 
In both these sides the rowers had their places, called 
toi^oi and e&aXia, in Latin fori and transtra, placed above 
one another; the lowest was called Sra.Xa//.o<;, and those that 
laboured therein SraXauiot; the middle, §oXa, and the men 
f'Aioi ; the uppermost bpai/ot, whence the rowers were termed 
boavnai. In these apartments were spaces through which 
the rowers put their oars: these were sometimes one con¬ 
tinued vacuity from one end to the other, called rgcccprf, 
but more usually distinct holes, each of which was designed 
for a single oar; these were styled rp-p/za/a, rpairp/zara, as 
also oipOaX/j-Qi, because not unlike the eyes of living crea¬ 
tures. All of them were, by a more general name, termed 
eyKUTca, from containing the oars; but tyK corny seems to 
have been another thing, signifying the spaces between the 
banks of oars on each side, where the passengers appear to 
have been placed. On the top of all there was a passage or 
place to walk, called rapaSo?, and wapaflpavo?, as joining to 
the frpavoi, or uppermost bank of oars. 
2 . flpapa, the “ prow, or fore-deck,” whence it is some¬ 
times called ueTcoTrov, and commonly distinguished by other 
metaphorical titles taken from human faces. In some ships 
there is mention of two prows, as also two sterns; such as 
Danaus’s ship adorned by Minerva when he fled from 
Egypt. It was usual to beautify the prow with gold and 
various sorts of paint and colours; in the primitive times, 
red was most in use; whence Homer’s ships were generally 
dignified with the titles of //.iXroorapy/oi, and tpoiviKonapimL or 
“ red faced;” the blue, likewise, or sky-colour, was fre¬ 
quently made use of, as bearing a strict resemblance to the 
colour of the sea; whence we find ships called by Homer 
KvavoTipcogoi, by Aristophanes KvavepfioXoi. Several other 
colours were also made use of; nor were they barely var¬ 
nished over with them, but very often annealed by wax 
melted in the fire, so that neither the sun, winds, nor water, 
were able to deface them. The art of doing this was called 
from the wax /c/jpoypapia, from the fire which is 
described by Vitruvius, and mentioned in Ovid. 
-- Picta coloribus ustis 
Cxruleam matrem concava puppis habet. 
The painted ship with melted wax anneal’d 
Had Tethys for its deity- 
In these colours, the various forms of gods, animals, plants, 
&c., were usually drawn, which were likewise often added as 
ornaments to other parts of the ships, as plainly appears from 
the ancient monuments presented to the world by Baysius. 
The sides of the prow were termed orfepa, or “ wings,” 
and napia, according to Scheffer, or rather maiticu ; for, 
since the prow is commonly compared to a human face, it 
will naturally follow that the sides should be called cheeks. 
These are now called bows by our mariners. 
3. Ilpti/zyv),. “the hind-deck or poop,” sometimes called 
o;pa, the “tail,” because the hindmost part of the ship; it 
was of a figure more inclining to round than the prow, the 
extremity of which was sharp, that it might cut the waters; 
it 
