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. HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

The most plausible suggestion that in all probability has hitherto been offered,in the attempt to solve this seeming enigma, is, that the oars were, even in vesselsof the largest size, disposed in three ranks only, or rows extending from stem tostern. The row-ports, however, were not at equal distances from each other,as many, have supposed, but in ranks, or, if we may be allowed the term, classes,consisting of four, or, in the largest vessels, five each, with an interval nearlyequal to that occupied by the ports themselves ; so that a vessel of the first mag-nitude in some degree resembled a modern three-decked ship, which shows thesame arrangement of interstices between its gun-ports. Pursuing this idea,we may place thirteen banks on the lower tier, as many in the second, andfourteen in the third, allowing that addition for the advantage gained in lengthby the raking of the stern and stern. There will be by this arrangement twohundred oars on each side ; and, allowing on an average ten men to each oar,exact employment for the number of persons our crew is stated to have con-sisted of. Plate 3 is the ideal representation of a vessel of this descrip-tion ; and however ridiculous it may appear on some accounts, it certainlymilitates not against the foregoing principles so forcibly as many other schemesof arrangement. The length of it answers extremely well by a fair calculationof the disposition, and the room necessary to work the oars. Let it be supposed,for instance, that five row-ports, at nearly ten inches each, required four feet,and the distance between each port to have been four feet also : this multipliedby thirteen, the number of banks in the lower tiers will amount to two hundredand sixty feet: to the intervals between the banks must be allowed ten feet, andtwenty for the distance between the fore part of the first bank and the bow,with the same distance for the space between the aftermost row-port and thestern : these, added together, amount exactly to four hundred and twenty feet.The same calculation and proportions will be found to hold perfectly consonantto the dimensions given of all the other rates, if it be granted that no vesselunder an Hexereme had more than one tier of oars.

This opinion appears to be in no small degree cherished by that of others, forwhose diligence of research, and solidity of judgment, enquirers cannot but enter-tain the greatest respect. In proof of this, Plate 4 represents an Heptereme,or vessel having seven banks of oars, taken from Bayfius, and is called by him agalley in that lank or class, said to have belonged to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.To confess the truth, the boldest assertions are in all probability little more than

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