[Illustration]
The galleys were very narrow, only 15-1/2 feet in beam.[9] But to give
room for the play of the oars and the passage of the fighting-men, &c.,
this width was largely augmented by an opera-morta, or outrigger deck,
projecting much beyond the ship's sides and supported by timber
brackets.[10] I do not find it stated how great this projection was in the
mediaeval galleys, but in those of the 17th century it was on each side
as much as 2/9ths of the true beam. And if it was as great in the
13th-century galleys the total width between the false gunnels would be
about 22-1/4 feet.
In the centre line of the deck ran, the whole length of the vessel,
a raised gangway called the corsia, for passage clear of the oars.
[Illustration]
The benches were arranged as in this diagram. The part of the bench next
the gunnel was at right angles to it, but the other two-thirds of the
bench were thrown forward obliquely, a, b, c, indicate the position of
the three rowers. The shortest oar a was called Terlicchio, the middle
one b Posticcio, the long oar c Piamero.[11]
[Illustration: Galley-Fight, from a Mediaeval Fresco at Siena. (See p.
36)]
I do not find any information as to how the oars worked on the gunnels.
The Siena fresco (see p. 35) appears to show them attached by loops and
pins, which is the usual practice in boats of the Mediterranean now. In
the cut from D. Tintoretto (p. 37) the groups of oars protrude through
regular ports in the bulwarks, but this probably represents the use of a
later day. In any case the oars of each bench must have worked in very
close proximity. Sanudo states the length of the galleys of his time
(1300-1320) as 117 feet. This was doubtless length of keel, for that is
specified ("da ruoda a ruoda") in other Venetian measurements, but the
whole oar space could scarcely have been so much, and with twenty-eight
benches to a side there could not have been more than 4 feet gunnel-space
to each bench. And as one of the objects of the grouping of the oars was
to allow room between the benches for the action of cross-bowmen, &c., it
is plain that the rowlock space for the three oars must have been very
much compressed.[12]
The rowers were divided into three classes, with graduated pay. The
highest class, who pulled the poop or stroke oars, were called
Portolati; those at the bow, called Prodieri, formed the second
class.[13]
