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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

CHAPTER THE S1XTII.

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The different Species of Timber used by the Ancients for the Purpose of Ship-building — Their Prejudices and Customs in respect to the Time oj felling, andMode of seasoning it—The Method of setting up the Frame or Skeleton—TheArt of planking the Side briefly explained—The Situation and Form of theRow Ports—Difficulties which occur in attempting to investigate the Mannerof arranging them—Description of the Galley from L' Escalier—Account of ittaken from other Authors—Examination of the Assertions made by the Ancients,in regard to the immense Magnitude of some Vessels then built, and an Enquiryinto the JAumber of Tiers of Oars with which they were worked—An Attemptto solve the perplexing Statement relative to the Galley of Ptolemy Philopater,which is said to have had Forty Ranks or Tiers of Oars—The Dimensions ofthe Ancient Galleys—Distinction made by the Greeks in the Terms ajiplied tothem, and those afterwards used by the Romans — The Names given to differentTiers, and varied Mode of fixing the Seats.

I T has been, we conceive, necessary to make the foregoing short review of thecauses of the rise and fall of naval potentates in the early ages of the world,not because their history tends much to elucidate the subject we are about totreat of, but as it serves for a better basis, or foundation, on which the super-structural account of the art, or science, may be erected. After long practice,and the knowlege of those benefits which were experimentally found to result fromthe science of navigation, had so far introduced it to the general acquaintance ofmankind that their ideal wants, outrunning their means, rendered the exerciseof ingenuity necessary to supply them, nations began to apply themselves se-riously to the study of Marine Architecture, so that, by the construction of vesselsextensive in bulk, or burthen, the commodities of one country, as we have al-ready shewn, might with the greater ease be transported to another. Experiencesoon taught the students of the art, that sails, applicable as they were to the ease ofmanual labour, were by no means proper to be used at all times in vessels in-tended merely for the purposes of war; the power, the force of the latter, depending

entirely