A question difficult to solve has often been raised respecting the pace at which these ancient galleys could be propelled. If five-man power could be taken as equivalent to one-horse power, then for the propulsion of the trireme there would have been available about thirty-five horse power, but that would hardly give a very high rate of speed.
There is a passage in Xenophon[1] in which he speaks of a distance of about 150 nautical miles, from Byzantinm to Heraclea, as possible for a trireme in a day, but a long day’s work, Assuming eighteen hours’ work out of the twenty-four, a speed of something over eight knots per hour would be required for this, which may perhaps seem excessive. Still we may believe that bya crew when fresh a pace not less than this could be achieved,
The Romans, though it may be inferred from treaties with Carthage and with Tarentum that they had some kind of flect in the time even of the kings, yet did not apply themselves readily to maritime pursuits, and made no serious effort to become masters of the Mediterranean till the first Punie War. We hear then of their copying a quinquereme which had fallen into their hands by accident. A fleet was constructed in sixty days from the time that the trees were first cut down, and meantime crews were practised diligently in rowing on dry land in a framework of timber which represented the interior of the vessels that were building. This first essay at extemporising a fleet does not seem to have been very successful. But nothing daunted they persevered, and the second venture under the Admiral Duillius took with it to sea a new invention ealled the ’corvus,’ a sort ef boarding bridge by which, when it once fell on the enemy’s vessel, the Roman infantry soon found its way on to his deck, and made short work with the swarthy African crew. This revolutionised the maritime struggle, and gave unexpectedly the naval superiority to Rome. The large vessels of war (alta navium propugnecula) continued to be built until the time of Actium, when the light Liburnian galleys, which were
- ↑ Anab. vi. 42.
