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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

Yarro, by Isis *, and in the opinion of others by iEolus, the fabulous or PaganGod of the winds; the oar, which is supposed by many to have been contrived byAtlas, king of Mauritania, though this is certainly a false attribution, as theywere very evidently in general use long before the time in which he flourished :in respect to the gubernaculum, or rudder, the claimants to that inventionare so numerous, and so equally supported by different testimonies, that it isabsolutely impossible to ascertain the right of priority.

Though in the time of action the success of every manoeuvre, and the eventof the encounter itself, in great measure depended on the discipline and strengthof the rowers, yet it is not from thence to be concluded, that gallies were atother times deprived of the use of the mast and sail. When the wind was fair,they constantly made use of sails, and worked their vessels either with thoseonly, or aided by the oars also, if it was so nearly calm as to enable the latterto afford any supplementary assistance: this custom, as will be hereaftershewn, has been continued in the Mediterranean among vessels still retainingthe same name down even to the present time. No inconsiderable share ofpains are said to have been bestowed by the ancients in investigating what,considering their habits and pursuits, particularly with respect to vessels ofwar, were mere secondary considerations, the situation and size of the masts ;but though moderns are well assured of the attention paid to these particulars,they labour under the same uncertainty with respect to any precise or authenticinformation concerning them, that obstructs accurate enquiry or description inother respects.

As it was indispensably necessary, in time of action, that the gallies, or vesselsof war, should not only be directed with swiftness, but also with a great degreeof exactness and force, experience, as already shewn, taught the ancientsthese different points were not to be attained by any other means than theuse of oars. The instrument of assault uniformly used, long as the event of anaval contest depended on the particular management of the vessel itself,,was thg

* Ve'.a Isis rati primum suspendit, cum per mare Harpocratem filium audaci foeminea pietate perqui-reret: Ita dum materna charitas suum desiderium feslinat explere, mundi visa est ignota reserare.—Lib. v. Isis first added the invention of sails to navigation, when, with an affection bolder than usuallyfalls to the lot of women, she sailed in quest of her son Harpocrates ; so that, while her maternalfondness urged her to the completion of her wishes, she appears to have displayed to the world arte,till then, unknown to it.

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