HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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“ they call those machines harpagones, {or grappling irons) which it wascustomary to cast or throw into the fortifications of the enemy.”

Though the act of grappling a galley is extremely conformable to our senses,that of practising the same measure in the assault of a fort is by no means so, andthe apparent absurdity of the idea furnishes a true exposition of the mystery. TheKtjvuyri was in fact a machine very little used at sea, and for one very sufficientreason, it could render very little service : it was of the form and constructionalready described, so that being strongly fixed to the walls of a besieged fortifi-cation, it afforded the means of grappling, in that sense, any vessel which camewithin its reach, and hoisting it suddenly out of the water.

The consequence is as obvious as it must inevitably have proved destructive;and though the idea of raising a vessel absolutely into the air may probably beforced beyond the bounds of credibility or reality, yet that it was no unfrequentpractice to elevate, by means of this engine, the prow or stern of a galley tosuch a height, that the consequent submersion of the other end caused it to fillwith water, and sink to the bottom, is very evident from the concurrent testi-mony of many authors and historians, together with that of commentators themost respectable, on account of their knowledge and veracity. “ Namque adimplicanda navigia, qu<e muros subibant validis asseribus corvos et ferreas manuscum uncis et falcibus illigaverant, ut cum tormento asseres promovissent subitolaxatis funibus injicerent. Unci quoque et falces ex iisdem asseribus depen-dentes, aut propugnatores, aut ipsa navigia lacerabant.” Curtius, lib. iv. “ Forthe purpose of entangling (or rather seizing) any vessel which should venture toapproach their walls, they (the Tyrians) fastened grappling irons, by means ofhooks and cramps, to the ends of strong beams, which being properly directed,and dropped on the decks of the galley, by suddenly letting go the ropes, noinconsiderable injury was effected with regard to the crew, and, on many occa-sions also, to the vessel itself.” Athenaeus states, that in his time many vesselswere fitted with three masts, to each of which beams as before described wereattached, and by which means it was customary to throw grappling irons, (har-pagones) or exceeding heavy weights made of lead, on the decks of the gal liesbelonging; to their foes.

“ It is unnecessary to repeat,” says Folard, “ that the corvus was known tothe Greeks long: before the time of Archimedes. This machine was not usedat the siege of Samos only, but also, a short time before, at that of Rhodes, byDemetrius Poliorcetes. Vitruvius asserts, there was a Rhodian architect, named

Diognetus,.