HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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rostrum, or beak * ; and very particular attention was of course paid to render itas capable of injuring an enemy on one hand, as on the other, to form it in sucha manner that it might firmly resist the most furious assaults. The wood ofwhich it was constructed, was either elm, ash, or oak, notwithstanding everyother part of the hull might be built of fir. It was found that an extension ofthe rostrum contributed very materially to the speed and ease with which thevessel passed through the water ; but that too great an elongation weakened it inso great a degree, as to destroy those powerful effects which were produced by itwhen rendered firm, from being more contracted. The fatal effects of inatten*-’tion to this particular, was experienced by the Athenians in a naval engagement,which took place between them and the people of Syracuse four hundred andten years before Christ. Under the idea of giving greater swiftness to theirvessels, on which property alone they conceived the success of every navalcontest materially depended,, the greater part of their Triremes were fittedwith longer prows than had ever been before in use. The Syracusan vessels,on the contrary, had beaks rather shorter than was at that time customary ;so that, by keeping their fleet together in close order, they not only preventedthe Athenians from making, as was customary, any forcible stroke with the beaksagainst the sides of their vessels, but if the former found occasional opportunityof making this kind of assault, the attack proved more injurious to themselvesthan it did to the assailed. The mode of attack, as generally practised, waseither to sheer up suddenly so close along-side the enemy, that the stroke of therostrum, or prow, might shatter the oars, or the greater part of them, on theside attacked, and by that means render the vessel in great measure unmanage-able, or by striking the enemy with the greatest possible force near the midship,cause the beak to penetrate the side of the enemy’s vessel, which in ancienttimes were extremely thin, or to overset them, in case they were strongenough, or fortunate enough, to resist the injury first mentioned. Sometimesthe enemy attempted to steer round the stern, and by a sudden swift stroke,to demolish or injure the rudder. In this case, the same effect of renderingthe antagonist incapable of managing his vessel was produced with still lessdanger than attended either of the two preceding attempts, because the force

* The fashion, though not the use, has been preserved in great measure even to the present time,particularly in the Mediterranean gallies, of which hereafter. That part of a modem ship called thebeak head, is uncontrovertibly derived from the ancient stem, or prow, which sprung forward from thebow, adding elegance of form to utility and service in action.

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