A great
five-banked galley on this system, built in 1529 in the Venice Arsenal by
Vettor Fausto, was the subject of so much talk and excitement, that it
must evidently have been something quite new and unheard of.[6] So late as
1567 indeed the King of Spain built at Barcelona a galley of thirty-six
benches to the side, and seven men to the bench, with a separate oar to
each in the old fashion. But it proved a failure.[7]
Down to the introduction of the great oars the usual system appears to
have been three oars to a bench for the larger galleys, and two oars for
lighter ones. The fuste or lighter galleys of the Venetians, even to
about the middle of the 16th century, had their oars in pairs from the
stern to the mast, and single oars only from the mast forward.[8]
[Sidenote: Some details of the 13th century Galleys.]
27. Returning then to the three-banked and two-banked galleys of the
latter part of the 13th century, the number of benches on each side seems
to have run from twenty-five to twenty-eight, at least as I interpret
Sanudo's calculations. The 100-oared vessels often mentioned (e.g. by
Muntaner, p. 419) were probably two-banked vessels with twenty-five
benches to a side.
[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]
Some elucidation of the arrangements that we have tried to describe will
be found in our cuts. That at p. 35 is from a drawing, by the aid of a
very imperfect photograph, of part of one of the frescoes of Spinello
Aretini in the Municipal Palace at Siena, representing a victory of the
Venetians over the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's fleet, commanded by his
son Otho, in 1176; but no doubt the galleys, &c., are of the artist's own
age, the middle of the 14th century.[14] In this we see plainly the
projecting opera-morta, and the rowers sitting two to a bench, each with
his oar, for these are two-banked. We can also discern the Latin rudder on
the quarter. (See this volume, p. 119.) In a picture in the Uffizj, at
Florence, of about the same date, by Pietro Laurato (it is in the corridor
near the entrance), may be seen a small figure of a galley with the oars
also very distinctly coupled.[15] Casoni has engraved, after Cristoforo
Canale, a pictorial plan of a Venetian trireme of the 16th century, which
shows the arrangement of the oars in triplets very plainly.
The following cut has been sketched from an engraving of a picture by
Domenico Tintoretto in the Doge's palace, representing, I believe, the
same action (real or imaginary) as Spinello's fresco, but with the costume
and construction of a later date. It shows, however, very plainly, the
projecting opera-morta and the arrangement of the oars in fours, issuing
through row-ports in high bulwarks.
[Illustration: Part of a Sea Fight, after Dom. Tintoretto]
[Sidenote: Fighting Arrangements.]
28. Midships in the mediaeval galley a castle was erected, of the width of
the ship, and some 20 feet in length; its platform being elevated
sufficiently to allow of free passage under it and over the benches.
