60

HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

take the dimensions of the longest oar of which any mention has been made. Itslength is said to have been equal to fifty-seven feet, and it appears to be the opi-nion of those who are best informed on the subject of ancient naval tactics,that it was necessary one third part of the oar’s whole length should bewithin board, which would give nineteen feet from the fulcrum, or sup-porting point of the row-port, to the extremity, or end of the handle. Inmodern galleys, it has ever been the custom to adopt the following arrange-ment :—If the part of the oar within board amounts to seventeen spans inlength, ten nearest the end are always allotted to the rowers, and the length ofthe remaining seven spans being that part nearest the row-port, is always leftvacant, experience having proved, that the utmost exertion of human labour,on a part so near the supporting point, would be of little or no avail, throughthe want of sufficient purchase. Hesychius informs us, that nearly the sameregulation was adopted by the ancients, at least in all vessels having onlyone rank, or tier of oars, adding to his explanation of the term used

by Homer to signify a thwart, or seat, seven feet in length, which was sufficientfor five rowers, that a seat of the dimensions just given required the handle ofthe oar to be twelve feet in length from the row-port. The space of sevenpalms exceeds five feet only by three inches, in oars, however, of still greaterlength, a greater purchase is necessary, and on that account it must beallowed, that the interspace was extended nearly seven feet between the rowerwho sat nearest the side and the side itself. When this deduction is made,there will still remain a length of more than twelve feet, which will be suffi-cient to hold ten rowers, allowing fifteen inches to each individual, a spacecompletely adequate to the purpose, for the opinion entertained by some,that a rower required a length of two cubits, or three feet, to extend andcontract his arms in the necessary exercise of his function is manifestly veryerroneous. In modern galleys, where the rowers are by no means crowded,never more than eighteen inches are allowed to each, and very frequentlyno more has been allotted for the supposed proportion in days of yore. Thepersons occupied in the act of rowing observed carefully to follow each other,so that the action of the uppermost should not, if possible, in the smallestdegree, precede that of those next below them. By these means, the wholework was carried on with the greatest facility ; for if, in passing over orunder they cleared each other only half an inch, it was sufficient to effectthe desired purpose.

If,