To return to the Egyptians. Sesostris had immense fleets 1437 years
before Christ, and navigated not only the Mediterranean, but the Red
Sea. The Egyptians had invaded, by means of veritable fleets, the
country of the Pelasgi. Some of these ancient Egyptian ships were very
large. Diodorus mentions one of cedar, built by Sesostris, which was
280 cubits (420 to 478 feet) long.
One built by Ptolemy was 478 feet long, and carried 400 sailors, 4000
rowers, and 3000 soldiers. Many other huge vessels are mentioned. A
bas-relief at Thebes represents a naval victory gained by the Egyptians
over some Indian nation, in the Red Sea, or the Persian Gulf, probably
1400 years before Christ.
The Egyptian fleet is in a crescent, and seems to be endeavoring to
surround the Indian fleet, which, with oars boarded and sails furled,
is calmly awaiting the approach of its antagonist. A lion’s head, of
some metal, at the prow of each Egyptian galley, shows that ramming was
then resorted to. These Egyptian men-of-war were manned by soldiers in
helmets, and armed as those of the land forces.
The length of these vessels is conjectured to have been about 120
feet, and the breadth 16 feet. They had high raised poops and
forecastles, filled with archers and slingers, while the rest of the
fighting men were armed with pikes, javelins, and pole-axes, of most
murderous appearance, to be used in boarding. Wooden bulwarks, rising
considerably above the main-deck, protected the rowers. Some of the
combatants had bronze coats of mail, in addition to helmets of the
same, and some carried huge shields, covered, apparently, with tough
bull’s hide. These vessels had masts, with a large yard, and a huge
square sail. They are said to have been built of acacia, so durable
a wood that vessels built of it have lasted a century or more. They
appear to have had but one rank of oars; although two or three tiers
soon became common. None of the ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek or
Roman monuments represent galleys with more than two tiers of oars,
except one Roman painting that gives one with three. Yet quinqueremes
are spoken of as very common. It is not probable that more than three
tiers were used; as seamen have never been able to explain how the
greater number of tiers could have been worked; and they have come
to the conclusion that scholars have been mistaken, and that the
term _quinquereme_, or five ranks of oars, as translated, meant the
arrangement of the oars, or of the men at them, and not the ranks, one
above another, as usually understood.
Much learning and controversy has been expended upon this subject, and
many essays written, and models and diagrams made, to clear up the
matter, without satisfying practical seamen.
The Roman galleys with three rows of oars had the row ports in tiers.
These ports were either round or oval, and were called _columbaria_,
from their resemblance to the arrangement of a dove-cote. The lower
oars could be taken in, in bad weather, and the ports closed.
The “long ships” or galleys of the ancient Mediterranean maritime
nations--which were so called in opposition to the short, high and
bulky merchant ships--carried square or triangular sails, often
colored. The “long ships” themselves were painted in gay colors,
carried flags and banners at different points, and images upon their
prows, which were sacred to the tutelary divinities of their country.
The “long ships” could make with their oars, judging from descriptions
of their voyages, perhaps a hundred miles in a day of twelve hours.
In an emergency they could go much faster, for a short time. It is
reliably stated that it took a single-decked galley, 130 feet long,
with 52 oars, a fourth of an hour to describe a full circle in turning.
Carthage was founded by the Phenicians, 1137 years before our era;
and not very long after the Carthaginians colonized Marseilles. Hanno
accomplished his _periplus_, or great voyage round Africa, 800 years B.
C., showing immense advance in nautical ability, in which the Greeks
were again left far behind. Still later, the Carthaginians discovered
the route to the British Islands, and traded there--especially in
Cornish tin--while 330 years B. C. _Ultima Thule_, or Iceland, was
discovered by the Marseillais Pitheas. Thus Carthage and her colonies
not only freely navigated the Atlantic, but some have thought that they
actually reached northern America.
Four hundred and eighty years before the Christian era the Grecian
fleet defeated that of the Persians, at Salamis; and the next year
another naval battle, that of Mycale (which was fought on the same
day as that of Platæa on land), completely discomfited the Persian
invaders, and the Greeks then became the aggressors.
Herodotus, who wrote about 450 years B. C., gives accounts of many
naval actions, and even describes several different kinds of fighting
vessels. He mentions the prophecy of the oracle at Delphi, when
“wooden walls” were declared to be the great defence against Xerxes’
huge force--meaning the fleet--just as the “wooden walls of England”
were spoken of, up to the time of ironclads. Herodotus says the Greek
fleet at the battle of Artemisium, which was fought at the same time
as Thermopylæ, consisted of 271 ships, which, by their very skillful
handling, defeated the much larger Persian armament, which latter, from
its very numbers, was unwieldy.
At Artemisium, the Greeks “brought the sterns of their ships together
in a small compass, and turned their prows towards the enemy.” And,
although largely outnumbered, fought through the day, and captured
thirty of the enemy’s ships. This manner of manœuvring was possible,
from the use of oars; and they never fought except in calm weather.
After this, the Greeks, under Alexander, renewed their energies, and
his fleet, under the command of Nearchus, explored the coast of India
and the Persian Gulf. His fleets principally moved by the oar, although
sails were sometimes used by them.
Among other well authenticated naval events of early times, was the
defeat of the Carthaginian fleet, by Regulus, in the first Punic war,
335 years B. C. This victory, gained at sea, was the more creditable to
the Romans, as they were not naturally a sea-going race, as the nations
to the south and east of the Mediterranean were.
When they had rendered these nations tributary, they availed themselves
of their nautical knowledge; just as the Austrians of to-day avail
themselves of their nautical population upon the Adriatic coast, or the
Turks of their Greek subjects, who are sailors.
Of naval battles which exercised any marked influence upon public
events, or changed dynasties, or the fate of nations, the first of
which we have a full and definite description is the battle of Actium.
But before proceeding to describe that most important and memorable
engagement, we may look at two or three earlier sea fights which had
great results, some details of which have come down to us.
NAVAL BATTLES,
ANCIENT AND MODERN.