SORT THIS OUT[edit]

• Viking raids in the 9th century led to founding of an Iberian navy (under Muslims) (Lawrence V. Mott, "Iberian Naval Power, 1000-1650" in Hattendorf & Unger 2003: 105)
• after the Romans had conquered most of the Mediterranean only light Liburnians were needed – equipped with one oar bank, ram (?), one mast with square sail, bow headsail ^[1]
• Romans had galleys in the North, but they disappeared after their withdrawal in 3rd-5th; Celtic curraghs: 12 m skin boats with a sail and oars ^[2]

• SUMMARY OF GENOA-VENICE CONFLICTS^[3]

Galleys were widely used in the north and were the most numerous warships used by Mediterranean powers with interests in the north, especially the French and Iberian kingdoms.^[4]

• several Orders or Knights were established in the Mediterranean that employed galley forces, dedicated to fighting Islam; the knights served as "admirals"^[5]
• large northern vessels were sailed, most towed or rowed (Unger 1980: 57); Germanic ships (rowing barges) for moving men 24 meters long, similar in proportion to the dromon, clinker built, 15 pairs of oars (Unger 1980: 58)

The late 15th century saw the development of the ocean-going ships. These warships were equipped with multiple masts and rigging that permitted tacking into the wind, and were heavily armed with cannons, first mounted on open decks and later through gunports in the stern and eventually along the broadsides. These proved to be formidable obstacles for attacking galleys.

Despite the steady advances in sailing ship technology in the early modern period, the 16th century saw the last great age of the war galley.

• early modern state navies, a result of bureaucratization and centralization (monopoly of violence) had to be supported by sailing warships^[6]
• in 1590, c. 30 galleys with 4,000 men^[7]

• small galleys used by Gustavus Adolphus until 1630 (up to 24 in the same expedition), after that a decrease; 2-4 small guns (out of which 2 were heavy stormstycken)^[8]
• sailing warships were displaced by large galley fleets during the 16th century^[9]
• smågalärer vanliga i Östersjön från 1500-talet i Danmark och Sverige, "riktiga" större galärer var "udda specialfartyg" som främst fick användning på Bohuskusten under kriget på 1710-talet^[10]

Search-for terms[edit]

avoid repetitions

Off-loading articles[edit]

• naval strategy
• Roman navy (linkage, rather)
• Hellenistic-era warships
• maritime history#Ancient times
• naval warfare or naval history (the two should be merged or "pulled apart"
• ancient maritime history
• Ottoman navy
• ship building#history
• naval ram
• ramming
• rowing (move in content from watercraft rowing)
• naval artillery
• warship
• cannon
  • culverin
  • demi-cannon
  • swivel gun
  • mortar
  • falconet
  • saker
• chase gun

Mebbe?[edit]

• Naval artillery in the Age of Sail

Tactics[edit]

Non-galley[edit]

• galleys "sporadically" used by Spain in Netherlands, Bay of Biscay and the Caribbean^[11]
• medieval naval battles at night were very rare^[12]

The English of the 13th century made extensive use of "galleys" for convoy duty around the British Isles, enforcing customs regulations and relieving besieged castles. These were called balingers or barges and were different from the southern galleys as they were usually smaller and built according to the clinker method, with overlapping hull planks that supported the structure of the vessel. There were occasional examples of English galleys as large as 42 m (138 ft) long and 6 m (20 ft) wide.^[13]

The Swedish galley fleet was the largest (26 vessels by 1560), and was used primarily as an auxiliary branch of the army. These ships were smaller than in the Mediterranean and rather than convicts or slaves, the oars were handled by army soldiers.^[14]

• Arabs suffered from an acute shortage of timber in the late 10th century after the loss of Crete to the Byzantines; timber embargoes and shortage led to a major decline of shipwrights in Fatimid Egypt; worsened by Italian competition who could lower prices and had no lack of timber (Unger 1980: 99-100)
• Venice had a state navy from the 14th century onwards^[15]

• galeasses developed from the great galleys (but with more guns); used in England to a minor extent but the term was used for much smaller four-masted, broadside ships in Henry VIII's navy with unknown number of oars (oarports below guns); English also used smaller pinnaces, rowbarges^[16]

• large northern vessels were sailed, most towed or rowed ^[17]; Germanic ships (rowing barges) for moving men 24 meters long, similar in proportion to the dromon, clinker built, 15 pairs of oars ^[18]
• galleys of Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily in 1275 were basically "huge rowing shells" at 10.7:1, 39x3.67m, 80 tons; designed to cut through the water rather than to ride the waves^[19]
• King Alfred in England built large rowing boats with 30 oars a side to counter threats from Vikings, up to 40 m long, reportedly "bigger, faster and higher in the water" compared to Viking vessels ^[20]
• Viking ships similar in many ways to galleys, though distinct; extreme cases of 60 oars, though generally much smaller; sailed before the wind, mostly lacked any superstructures and were not armed with catapults, etc; primarily traders and people movers ^[21]
• English vessels called "galleys" were "major" part of strike force: clinker-built, double-ended, single square sail, some with fighting castles in bow, stern and at mast; little actually known of design, possibly like old Viking ships, but really no conclusive evidence;^[22] called "barges/balingers/barks" c. 1350-1500^[23]; largely replaced by sailing ships by early 15th century, while remaining important for reconnaissance and patrol^[24]

In the 15th century, before the onset of the early modern period with the early precursors of centralized states, there were five localized, ongoing conflicts in the Mediterranean. In the west, around the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile fought the Iberian Muslim outpost of Granada as well as their Christian rivals in France and Portugal. The various commercially oriented Italian city-states (like Venice, Genoa and Florence) vied with each other for control of the lucrative trade in both luxuries and bulk wares. Venice, the most powerful of the city-states and maritime republics, fought sporadically against the expanding Ottoman Empire as it displaced the last vestiges of the Byzantines, the heir of the eastern Roman empire. Throughout the Mediterranean, the so-called sea ghazis based in North Africa, and the Knights of Saint John based on the island of Rhodes, fought a low-scale raiding and pirate war that had its ultimate origins in the First Crusade of the late 11th century. Both saw themselves as soldiers of their respective faiths, and engaged in wholesale piratical activities and slave raids, sometimes even attacking adherents of their own religion.^[25] As these local conflicts intensified and expanded, the outcome was the crushing of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans, which also closed off the Black Sea to Christian powers, and denied the Genoese Republic of its territories in that region. The Ottomans also captured Morea (modern-day Greece) and largely ousted Venice from the Aegean Sea and conquered Egypt and the Levant, with its vital ports. The small kingdom of Portugal meanwhile, began moving on the Indian Ocean with its trade with South and East Asia, which brought them into conflict with the Ottomans in the Red Sea and around the Arabian Peninsula.^[26]

• qualitative changes in technology important to downfall of Mediterranean, but afterwards quantitative was even more important, especially the invention of cheap cast iron guns (in England 1543)^[27]

• galleasses only used by Venice until 1755^[28]

The 16th century became the last great age of the war galley in the Mediterranean. The late 15th century saw the development of the man-of-war, the ocean-going trader and warship, beginning with the carrack, which evolved into the galleon and then into the square rigger. These warships carried advanced rigging and numerous sails that permitted tacking into the wind, and they were heavily armed with cannons. In the Mediterranean, the decline of the galley began in the early 17th century with the influx of Dutch pirates in summer, and were no answer in winter, when rough weather kept galleys on shore.^[29] However, before sailing warships began carrying their primary armament along their sides (broadsides), galleys were fitted with heavy artillery pieces in the bows. This gave galleys several advantages: they could fire from a low position close to waterline; their hulls had small target areas; and they could move largely independent of adverse currents and weather conditions, outmaneuvering early types of sailing vessels in the right conditions. Though sailing ships would eventually become the dominant warships, the introduction of naval artillery actually strengthened the position of the galley's role as a warship, particularly in the Mediterranean. With the advent of heavy, long-range guns of wrought iron or bronze that could smash holes even in the heaviest of ship hulls, the galley became a highly effective gun platform. Placing one or several heavy cannon in the bows of a galley, allowed it to fire straight ahead on a very low trajectory, threatening to hole sailing ships near the waterline. This resulted in an expansion of galley navies all over Europe c. 1520-80, with a climax around 1571 with the battle of Lepanto, one of the largest naval battles ever fought.^[30]

Baltic[edit]

• 1796, the last 20 war galleys in the world were built by Russia^[31]
• galleys were replaced with "archipelago frigates" (copied from Chapman designs), xebecs, gunboats, floating batteries built 1788-90; 1809 saw the last actual use of galleys in a fleet action anywhere in the world ^[32]

Baltic 16th century galleys were smaller than their Mediterranean counterparts. While full-sized battle galleys of 25-30 banks of oars and even some galeasses were built, they were rare and too large to operate successfully in the Baltic.^[33] Sweden, one of the expansionist powers of the Baltic in the 16th century, built up one of the largest galley fleets in Europe in the 1540s. The Swedish galleys were used in coast areas and rivers inthe east against the small Russian states and in the south against Baltic Germans and Poland. Small gun-galleys were also built for internal defense on lakes Vänern and Vättern against the threat of peasant insurrections.^[34] The Swedish galley fleet was rowed and fought by soldiers in the permanent, centralized army of Gustav I, something which was quite unique at the time. As the fourth largest permanent galley fleet in the world in the latter half of the 16th century, it was also rather unique in being rowed by free men rather than convicts or slaves.^[35]

In the 18th century, galleys experienced a revival in the Baltic Sea due to the particular geographic conditions of the region. The extensive archipelago chain that extends from the eastern coast of central Sweden near the capital of Stockholm, via the Åland Islands and along the coast of the Gulf of Finland was ideally suited for amphibious warfare. At the other end of this chain lies Saint Petersburg, then the capital of the ascending new great power of Russia and its primary naval base in the Baltic. The thousands of rocky islets, islands with cramped inlets, shallows and sandbanks made it difficult for high sea fleets to enter these areas, which meant that shallow-draft galleys and other types of oared vessels had to provide naval support.^[36]

• Swedish (somewhat unsuccessful) "super-galleys" (or galleasses) used on the west coast: 48 m long, 30 pairs of oars, 500 men, 3x36-pounders^[37]
• half-galleys: 22 m, with 16-18 pairs of oars, armed with 6-pounders used, but only for reconnaissance^[38]
• 29 galärer i svenska flottan 1788; 20-22 årpar, 5 man per åra, 1x24p + 2x6p kanoner i fören, ca 250 mans besättning; främst som trupptransporter i skärgården^[39]

• Swedish galley fleet built up after 1540; by 1560 consisted of 26 units, large and small (largest in the Baltic?)^[40]

• the modern Russian fleet developed from the need of amphibious attack capability in close cooperation with the army against Sweden and Ottoman Turkey^[41]
• 160 galleys built 1712-14 (130 of which raided Swedish coasts in 1719); horse galleys 1719-21; 89 galleys built 1726-30; 63 galleys built 1738-43; 40 built 1770; 86 built 1771-76; especially early Russian galleys deteriorated quickly and were likely built with cheap timber (pine, not oak) and not very well ^[42]

• major clashes between the Swedish and Russian galley- and "rowing" fleets during the Great Northen War in the 1700s and 1710s (Hangö, Rilax)^[43]
• 44 Swedish galleys built 1748-49^[44]
• smaller Baltic Sea galleys adapted for small passages^[45]

Lead[edit]

• amphibious nature; auxiliary of armies
• dominant use by early states until 16th
• shift of power to north, Atlantic and colonies

Origins[edit]

• look up navigation, beaching by night, etc. in Pryor (?)

Military history[edit]

• 1100-700 BC?

As early as 1304 the type of ship required by the Danish defense organization changed from galleys??? to cogs, a flat-bottomed sailing ship.^[46]

The modern "galley"[edit]

With the steady decline of the Byzantine Empire in the eastern Mediterranean, the commercially-oriented Italian city-states rose as the new major Christian naval power in the Mediterranean.

• Genoa used a "Commune" early on (1263) to assemble warfleets (of galleys); depended on "private" individuals to take their share^[47]
• permanent Genoese state war fleet was not established until 1559 and then fairly tiny (3-6 from 1559-86),^[48] though a powerful merchant marine it had a "laughably small navy"^[49] TRADE?

• Genoese fleet organization was more flexible and open to change; innovated heavier "trireme" in 1290s; added more marines and guns to become the "most effective warship of its day"^[50]
• sailing season extended to winter as well (by Genoa?)^[51] CROSS REF WITH PRYOR
• War of Chioggia (1380?) saw the first time use of large scale use of gunpowder weapons/guns on ships (presumably galleys? - cross-ref with Guilmartin, Rodger, others)^[52]

• medieval France had "impressive galley dockyards" (unlike England)^[53]
• English and French used galleys manned by Italian (experts?)^[54]

During the 14th century, galleys began to be equipped with cannons of various sizes, mostly smaller ones at first, but also larger bombardas on vessels belonging to Alfonso V of Aragon.^[55] The War of Chioggia (1378-80) between Venice and Genoa was the first conflict with large scale use of gunpowder weapons on ships.^[56]

Early nation-states/Christian-Ottoman clash/Zenith of the galley fleets[edit]

Naval warfare in the Mediterranean was in the 16th century still closely tied to land warfare and worked in a symbiosis with seaside fortresses and strategically vital ports.^[57]

• galley campaigning largely limited to summer season; winter campaigns occurred, but were calculated (or desperate) risks; only the Christian corsairs and the North African ghazis were "immune" to these limitations^[58]
• early heavy ship guns were effective against early forts and sailing ships with high profiles; galleys vulnerable to hits, but had small target area; maneuverability regardless of wind direction made them capable of disciplined formations (unlike sailing ships)^[59]
• lack of development of effective tactics for sailing ships before 1650^[60]

• 4 Genoese carracks vs "body" of Ottoman galleys off Constantinople on 20 April 1453: comparable to siege warfare at sea; attempts to board carracks under cover of bow arrows was held off by the Genoese with crossbows, hand cannon pellets and hurling large objects (to stave in galley bottoms; guns did not actually effect on outcome^[61]
• battle of Zonchio 1499: one large "command" carrack (?), galleys; two large Venetian carracks and galleys; all three large ships destroyed by Ottoman incendiaries; Ottoman huge gun on large ship sunk Venetian galley (and small "barge") outright early in battle; huge 200-lbs (ammunition weight) cannons used on both sides; gunpowder weapons employed, but not decisive on final outcome^[62]

• WHAT ABOUT RED SEA (GUILMARTIN)?

Baltic revival[edit]

^[63]

The Swedish navy still retained 27 galleys in 1809, and the last Swedish-built galley remained on the ship rolls until 1835, before it was retired, 86 years after it was built.

• Sweden had 37 "capital ships" and 21 frigates in 1709, but only 5 galleys; Russia was ahead and managed to bring almost 100 to the battle of Hangö Udd in 1714; raided the eastern coast of Sweden in 1719-1721 from Piteå in the north to Norrköping in the south and almost penetrated all the way to Stockholm^[64]

Trade[edit]

• merchants were used in the navy; 500 transports for 92 warships against the Vandals in 533 (Unger 1980: 46)
• cogs and hulks were used for carrying trade in the North (Unger 1980: 61-63)

Around 700 BC, Phoenicians became the first to engage in seaborne trade west of the great islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, particularly silver and tin from Spain, but even good from as far north as England through middlemen. ^[65]

Merchant galleys were used more often on shorter routes and for coastal trade. ^[66]

The “beamier” merchant galleys were likely based on earlier military horse transports. ^[67]

• two types of Roman ships: galleys and merchants ^[68]
• large differences between South and North: differing hull designs, steering systems, propulsion; both had trade dominated by luxuries, but in the North it was mostly manufactured goods while South concentrated on silks and spices from Asia (South had much higher total value per unit of volume) ^[69]

• the Western Mediterranean was less organized than the Eastern; more pirate activity, more trade in luxuries and less coastal trade; spices, silks, etc imported, slaves and "sylvan" products (and timber) exported ^[70]
• sailing "round" ships transported bulk goods; galleys carried spices, silks, precious cloths, metals, weapons^[71]

• from the 15th century there were state owned merchant galleys, leased to the highest bidders in charter auctions; standardization of hulls (leased "bare" and empty) from 1420; 150 rowers and 20 officers and "specialists"^[72]
• Venetian state merchant galleys system eventually broke down in the 16th (?) century when faced with more enemies, especially aggressive Muslim expansion in Mediterranean^[73]

They were so safe that merchandise was often not insured (Mallet). These ships increased in size during this period, and were the template from which the galleass developed.

Design[edit]

• Romans built (like Greeks) with mortise and tenon joints; hulls of malleable wood (cypress); keel, posts, tenons of hardwood (oak) ^[74]
• mortise and tenon technique exclusive to Greeks and Romans; "excessively strong" ships, watertight w/o caulking; war, tarred fabric and lead sheathing ^[75]
• oars made from silver fur by stripping layers ^[76]

• fives: invented by D. of S.; the first step toward double oar-manning; Roman 5s were "cataphract" and higher (than Carthaginians); Roman types somewhat slow, but better at weathering storms than 4s; believed to have had 2:2:1 oar arrangement ^[77]

• sixes: development of 4 (2x3, though unlikely) or 5 by Dyn. I or II, perhaps in 367 BC; probably with a wider hull, only slightly higher than others (though some Romans had towers); no 6 in Athenian fleet; Brutus' flagship, Roman consuls sailed in 6s against Carthage in 256 BC, Ptolemy XII "royal six". Sextus Pompeius met Octavian and Antony near Puteoloi in 39 BC in a "splendid six", 6s largest ships of Octavian at Actium; no record of battle performance, though said to have been slow, of deep draught and with a large compliment of men; the Republic used it for "conspicuous" commanders' ships (Morrison 69-70)
• four: (Morrison 70-71)
• Liburnian: (Morrison 72-73)
• hemiolia:(Morrison 74-76)
• seven: (Morrison 76)
• eight: (Morrison 76)
• nine, ten: (Morrison 77)
• eleven-forty:(Morrison 77)

• Egyptian river craft built for Nile, simply upsized when they turned ocean-going; had no keels, but centerline hawsers on crutches that could be tightened by twisting (tourniquet), side rudders, early versions with "double-stepped" masts^[78]
• mortise-and-tenon technique "more cabinet work than carpentry" *^[79], dated to 1300 BC at the latest^[80]
• Mycenaean galleys had 20-100 oars (usually 30-50): shallow draft, low railings, boom-less sail (bunched up against yard with brails (like venetian blinds)) ^[81]
• description of Homer's ships (1300-1200 BC): long, low hull; prow that rose straight up ("horns" as decoration in front, often backwards-curved; curved stern; ram entry depicted on pottery^[82]
• ram on an Athenian safety pin from 850 BC???^[83]
• from "open, undecked affairs" to a "half deck" covering bow, stern and with a centerline gangway; rowers sat on the same level as the railing, but could move down on a lower level when fighting commenced, getting increased protection; prow lost "swept back curve" (?); stern got its distinct fan-like decoration (often treated as "scalp" when cut off enemy ships after a victory) -> penteconters became the new "ship of the line"^[84]
• the trireme was made possible by adding an outrigger for the third, top-most, bank; hull shape retained, though; established by late 6th century BC; layout dominated ancient warfare until late 4th century BC^[85]
• extant dock slips show that triremes were 121 ft long, 20 ft wide^[86]
• pointed rams (used early) could make a neat hole that it then stuck in; the later square, 3-fanned rams were designed to punch open seams^[87]
• bireme invented before 700 (to shorten ships with an equal amount of oars), either by Greeks or Phoenicians; two rows were staggered to economize space^[88]
• two square sails standard by 700; masts were lowered before battle, or left ashore; a hemiolia, "one and a half-er?", was invented where some of the rowers could get out of their seats to stow the mast^[89]
• triremes aged quickly; 20 years at most, 25 in exceptional cases; Greeks had 4-grade quality classification of their galleys^[90]
• Syracuse learned to reinforce their bow timbers and cornered the superior Athenian navy bow-to-bow^[91]
• Athlit ram was most likely from a five, possibly a four (76 x 95 x 226 cm; 465 kg); very expensive and complicated to cast even with later standards; the biggest single expense in constructing a galley; a war-trophy memorial shows evidence of a socket of one that was three times as wide (a "gargantuan casting"), likely from a ten captured at Actium; proves that ramming remained important, even if there was a shift towards infantry and other weapons^[92]
• gradual abandonment of mortise and tenon-technique until the first appearance of an "all-skeleton" construction in 1025^[93]
• Augustus' admiral Agrippa invented "grapnel catapult"^[94]
• Romans eliminated the oarbox by broadening the hull; and introduced an "arched doghouse" in the stern as quarters for the commander^[95]

• feature of Byzantine warships essentially established by 600: larger than Roman, slower, less cargo space, larger crews, more firepower (Unger 1980: 43) 6:1 ratio, two-banked (2x25 oars per side), 40-50 x 5 m; minimum of one man per oar; 1.5 meter draught; flat bottom amidships; shields on the sides (like Vikings); no stringers, strengthened by strakes and wales; MORE DETAILS AVAILABLE^[96]

• hulls need to have high (M)(length at waterline: 1/3 of displaced volume): a trireme has about 9 (and no ballast), medieval and medieval and "later war galleys" 6.5-8^[97]

• less expensive building technology; more fragile, but faster; after 600 came a "major step" towards skeleton construction, though not completely^[98]
• hull protection (lead sheathing) abandoned, though uses for warships in the 10th century^[99]

Building an efficient galley posed technical problems. The faster a ship travels, the more energy it uses. Through a process of trial and error, the unireme or monoreme — a galley with one row of oars on each side — reached the peak of its development in the penteconter, about 38 m long, with 25 oarsmen on each side. It could reach 9 knots (18 km/h), only a knot or so slower than modern rowed racing-boats.

• dimensions of Swedish and French "super galleys"^[100]

• centerline guns recoiled down the corsia; basically the same design for all Mediterranean galleys^[101]

• fairly small, but important differences in regional galley design^[102]
  • Spain: "tactical infantry assault craft"; slower under oars, heavily manned; designed for amphibious raiding and large fleet actions
  • North Africans: galleys and galiots; "strategic raiding craft"; faster under oars to allow them to escape pirate patrols; guerilla galleys; ability to outflank fleet battle galleys
  • Venice: "heavily armed tactical attack transport": artillery platform designed for standoff actions; faster under oars, slower under sail; good for relieving besieged fortresses
  • Ottoman Turks: offensive strategic siege transport/defensive tactical craft; intended to hold off attacking relief fleets while land forces defeated the strongholds on land; fast under oars, decent sailer

Antiquity[edit]

Early Greek vessels had few navigational tools. Most ancient and medieval shipping remained in sight of the coast for ease of navigation, safety, trading opportunities, and coastal currents and winds that could be used to work against and around prevailing winds. It was more important for galleys than sailing ships to remain near the coast because they needed more frequent re-supply of fresh water for their large, sweating, crews and were more vulnerable to storms. Unlike ships primarily dependent on sails, they could use small bays and beaches as harbors, travel up rivers, operate in water only a meter or so deep, and be dragged overland to be launched on lakes, or other branches of the sea. This made them suitable for launching attacks on land. In antiquity a famous portage was the diolkos of Corinth. In 429 BC (Thucydides 2.56.2), and probably earlier (Herodotus 6.48.2, 7.21.2, 7.97), galleys were adapted to carry horses to provide cavalry support to troops also landed by galleys.

The compass did not come into use for navigation until the 13th century AD, and sextants, octants, accurate marine chronometers, and the mathematics required to determine longitude and latitude were developed much later. Ancient sailors navigated by the sun and the prevailing wind^{[citation needed]}. By the first millennium BC they had started using the stars to navigate at night. By 500 BC they had the sounding lead (Herodotus 2.5).

Besides Athlit bronze rams, ^[103] the only other parts of ancient galleys to survive are parts of two Punic biremes off western Sicily (see Basch & Frost). These Punic galleys are estimated to have been 35 m long, 4.80 m wide, with a displacement of 120 tonnes. These biremes had evidence of an easily breakable pointed ram, more like the Assyrian image than the Athlit ram. This type of ram may have been designed to break off to prevent that the hull was breached.

Galleys were hauled out of the water whenever possible to keep them dry, light and fast and free from worm, rot and seaweed. Galleys were usually kept in ship sheds during the winter. The archaeological remains of these have left scholars with valuable clues to the dimensions of the ships themselves.^[104]

According to the Greek historian Herodotos, the first ramming action occurred in 535 BC when 60 Phocaean penteconters fought 120 Etruscan and Carthaginian ships. On this occasion it was described as an innovation that allowed Phocaeans to defeat a larger force.^[105]

The first Greek galleys appeared around the second half of the 2nd millenium BC. In the epic poem, the Iliad, set in the 12th century BC, galleys with a single row of oarsmen were used primarily to transport soldiers to and from various land battles.^[106] The first recorded naval battle, the battle of the Delta between Egyptian and the enigmatic Sea Peoples, occurred as early as 1175 BC, but was distinguished by being fought against an anchored fleet close to shore with land-based archer support. It is not known whether the ships that were used were in any way distinct from trade vessels.

The compass did not come into use for navigation until the 13th century AD, and sextants, octants, accurate marine chronometers, and the mathematics required to determine longitude and latitude were developed much later. Ancient sailors navigated by the sun and the prevailing wind^{[citation needed]}. By the first millennium BC they had started using the stars to navigate at night. By 500 BC they had the sounding lead (Herodotus 2.5).

Galleys were hauled out of the water whenever possible to keep them dry, light and fast and free from worm, rot and seaweed. Galleys were usually overwintered in ship sheds which leave distinctive archeological remains.^[107] There is evidence that the hulls of the Punic wrecks were sheathed in lead.

• Sea Peoples (rovers) survived in part after loss at the Delta as Tjeker and Peleset (Palestinians?)^[108]

The attack on the city of Troy, THE MAIN EVENT of the Iliad was made by what Casson and other authors have described as "sea rovers".^[109]

Sailing in open water with no sight of land was exceptional in antiquity, with ships skirting the coast as much as possible. At night, galleys were pulled up on land and the crew normally ate and slept ashore before setting out again to sea the next day.^[110]

Friezes found on the island of Thera shows early-type galleys in procession that have been described as part of a "navy" of the Minoans, "the first great sea power of the Mediterranean", according to Casson.^[111]

The Greek kingdoms and city-states established colonies over much of the Mediterranean and Black Seas in the period 750-550 BC in fierce competition with the Phoenicians.^[112] The two groups vied over trading rights and power and each managed to carve out areas of control in the Mediterranean basin itself. Phoenicians, however, managed to control the sea-borne trade with continental Europe and the Baltic. Despite loosing three major battles against Greek forces, the Straits of Gibraltar remained closed to Greek trade as a Phoenician monopoly.^[113]

Slave rowers were too expensive as they had to be permanently maintained and trained. They were only used in emergencies occasionally and then were often rewarded with freedom after participating in a battle. Freeing slaves in this manner entailed a considerable economic investment which far outweighed the benefits of forced oarsmen compared with free rowers.^[114]

After the brief and dramatic career of Alexander the Great, his massive empire fell apart. Three of its successor-states, Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid empire, became the major Mediterranean naval powers in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The Seleucids and Ptolemies became involved in a particularly intense conflict that according to historian Lionel Casson "touched off the greatest naval arms race in ancient history".^[115] The fierce competition between the two lead to a successive increase in galley size from sixes to sixteens, and all the way up to massive thirties, with all actually seeing use in battle (though the largest ships were quite rare).^[116]

Mecedonia and the Ptolemies fought each other to a standstill during the 3rd century BC in part with these "super galleys". By the end of the conflict, however, they had become largely outdated and when the Romans conquered Macedonia in 168 BC, they found a huge sixteen that had stood unused for over 70 years. ^[117]

In the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, the Carthaginian navy was initially the strongest, with better ships and seasoned crews facing a land-based war machine. However, Roman navy that was built up to destroy Carthage developed what has latter be called the corvus (Latin: "raven"), first used at Mylae in 260 BC. It was in essence only a gangplank with a spike at the bottom that could be dropped on an enemy deck to hold it fast. Once the corvus was lowered, ship-borne infantry would rush across to deal with the enemy crews in hand-to-hand combat. This simple device allowed the Romans to take advantage of their superior army in naval combat.^[118]

• Romans gained experience in Punic Wars, stole/copied more fast designs and built a superior fleet: won in 241; forced Carthage to wage a land war against them in the Second Punic War; by 201 BC, Rome was the greatest sea power in the (Western?) Mediterranean^[119]
• Rome turned east and conquered it by 160s BC; avoided the sea to a great extent and let as much as possible of fleets be handled by allies^[120]
• Augustus established Roman navy that dominated Mediterranean (based on Pompey's pirate-hunting operation)^[121]
• Misenum and Ravenna (on either side of Italy) became the bases for the two major core fleets/squadrons; contributed manpower to organize naumachias and to handle awnings at arenas and amphitheatres^[122]

• possible Roman naval patrols in Red Sea^[123]

Middle Ages[edit]

Medieval galleys like this pioneered the use of naval guns, pointing forward as a supplement to the above-waterline beak designed to break the enemies outrigger. Only in the 16th century were ships called galleys developed with many men to each oar.^[124]

Galley designs were intended solely for close action with hand-held weapons and projectile weapons like bows and crossbows. In the 13th century the Iberian kingdom of Aragon built several fleet of galleys with high castles, manned with Catalan crossbowman, and regularly defeated numerically superior Angevin forces.^[125]

• Arab navies were based on Byzantine Greek model, used former Byzantine bases in Egypt and Coptic shipbuilders; qarib was the largest Arab warship, a 2-banked galley; the Arabs had less experienced sailors, likely (Unger) had larger ships to carry more troops since they were a land-focused force; flew quadrilateral lateens "short-luff dipping lug sail" (54) ^[126]
• very little is known about Muslim galleys, assumed that they were highly similar to those used by Christians, but in general smaller and faster^[127]

• great galleys: lower breadth:length-ratio than warships, high bow to ride waves, higher freeboard, up to three masts with lateens (sometimes a square sail on the mainmast); rowed primarily in and out of harbors, otherwise a sailing vessel; went to Flanders, Egypt, Black Sea, etc; capable of open sea sailing; more room for provisions (or cargo/passengers);^[128] after 1292 great galleys could make two round trips per year, but stuck mostly to coastal trunk routes to regularly fill up on provisions, water and "refresh" passengers ("recreation")^[129]

• 1:3 of the oars inside of the thole^[130]

Early modern[edit]

• galleys used mainly in the Mediterranean and Baltic (in permanent fleets); temporary use around rest of Europe and in North America (mainly in rivers, on lakes and in coastal areas)^[131]
• Russian buildup of galleys began in Sea of Azov; continued with defense of Gulf of Finland-acquisitions; established as offensive through conquering of Finland^[132]
• the Russian and Swedish galley fleet formed the flank of the army when operating in the border wars^[133]
• half-galleys only common among North African corsairs^[134]

The following is based on Glete (1993), p. 81:

• so-called lantern galleys, usually used as command ships in action: 30 or more benches
• galleys, the standard war vessels: 20-30 benches
• galiots, used as cruisers or support vessels behind the lines in battles: 15-20 benches, usually with two rowers per oar)
• fustas, similar to galiots in function, but generally smaller than galiots
• brigantines, the smallest type of independently operating cruisers
• fregatas, a support vessel and originally the "ship boat" of galleys

• galley "ratings" evolved in the more advanced Mediterranean bureaucracies, mainly based on the number of benches:^[135]
  • galleass/great galley
  • lantern galleys - flagships (30+)
  • galleys - standard battle vessels (20+)
  • galiots - cruisers (15-20, 2 rowers per oar)
  • fustas - cruisers (smaller than galiots?)
  • brigantine - small cruisers ()
  • fregata - very small cruiser; originally a galley tender/"ship boat"

Modern era[edit]

• Chapman's and Ehrensvärd's collaboration led to new hybrid designs and eventually the introduction of gunboats; taking over the role of galleys^[136]

• unclear (according to Glete) situation of prestige use of galleys; oared vessels certainly still relevant and functional until the invention of practical stamships^[137]
• by 1790 only Venice, Genoa, the Papal States, Malta and Spain (minor force) had galleys left; all except Spain wiped out as states during Napoleonic Wars^[138]
• gunboats replaced galleys (and skärgårdfregatter) in 1800s^[139]

As galleys began to lose their usefulness in northern waters, rivalry and a conscious distinction between oared and sailing navies became more common. In France, the administrative language of the early 17th century made a strict distinction between marine ("navy") and galères ("galleys") with the former referring exclusively to sailing ships. This separation did not disappear completely until the 1650s when modern state navies began to emerge.^[140] [in User:Peter Isotalo/the corps]

Construction[edit]

Building an efficient galley posed technical problems. The faster a ship travels, the more energy it uses. Through a process of trial and error, the unireme or monoreme — a galley with one row of oars on each side — reached the peak of its development in the penteconter, about 38 m long, with 25 oarsmen on each side. It could reach 9 knots (18 km/h), only a knot or so slower than modern rowed racing-boats. To maintain the strength of such a long craft tensioned cables were fitted from the bow to the stern; this provided rigidity without adding weight. This technique kept the joints of the hull under compression - tighter, and more waterproof. The tension in the modern trireme replica anti-hogging cables was 300 kN (Morrison p198).

Propulsion[edit]

In the latter half of the Middle Ages, large war galleys had three rows of oars, but with all oars on the same level in sets of three to a bench. This layout of oars is best known under the medieval Italian term alla sensile, "in the simple fashion", and relied on skilled oarsmen.

• alla sensile means "in the simple fashion"^[141]

• change from alla sensile to a scaloccio around 1550, allowing larger galleys; lantern galleys with 36 pairs of oars with up to 420 rowers appeared^[142]

• small boats tack easily with a lateen rigs (and carracks in general), but with large galleys (esp. great galleys) with yards up to 45 m, 7 t more complicated business^[143]

• 10 knots is the upper limit for fixed seat rowing ^[144]; "oar systems have very low [energy] densities", 70 W per man and therefore little room for superfluous weight ^[145]
• theoretical speeds: sprinting for 5 minutes, 10 knots; cruising speed, 7,5-8 knots (for a whole day); ^[146]
• ancient triremes were (likely) never surpassed in speed ^[147]
• sitting down is the most effective rowing position ^[148]

• with a SIX 3x2; with a FIVE 2x2 + 1x1; no ship had more than three levels because it was physically impracticable; no proof of moving (rolling) seats; ^[149]

• few rowers in ancient trireme could see much and orders by a supervisor was essential, done with chants ryppapai/o opop and pipes; trials proved that certain rythmic melodies conveyed by loudspeakers or collective humming worked^[150]

• sliding stroke is possible, but impractical; inconclusive evidence that ancient rowers were advised to use their legs, but it could just be used for a fixed rowing technique; trials with Olympias were not able to produce a practical use of sliding^[151]

• rowing backwards could be done in trials by rowing backwards with some skill required (max 3 knots) or simply turning around (5 knots)^[152]

• with three men per oar, all might have sat, but the 1 (furthest out) would have done a stand- and-sit stroke; with more than three all would have done a sit-and-stand stroke^[153]

• rowing in rough seas or a headwind is exhausting^[154]

• difficult to row even in moderate seas ^[155]

• alla sensile means "in the simple fashion"^[156]
• change recorded around 1300 (same source as Pryor) from two rowers per bench to three^[157]

• change from alla sensile to a scaloccio around 1550, allowing larger galleys; lantern galleys with 36 pairs of oars with up to 420 rowers appeared^[158]

Crew[edit]

Conditions aboard early modern galleys were often described as filthy due to heavy over-crowding. In the French galley corps, well-known as a floating penal institution, it was even believed that it contributed to the speedy decay of the ships' timbers.^[159] The great stench of galleys was actually reputed to be origin for use of perfume by aristocractic French galley officers.^[160] In fact, only the great slave ships that plied the Atlantic Ocean from the 17th to the 19th century suffered more crowded conditions than galleys (though the latter stayed close to shore).^[161]

• 3000 oarsmen required just for the Squadron of Spain under Philip IV; despised as convicts and forzados or Muslim galley slaves (their percentage increased until the 1610s) were driven hard, but were still considered valuable and measures were taken to not allow them to die; lesser crimes were penalized with galley duty to fill gaps; gypsies condemned to row; French POWs employed; sentences prolonged (illegally) to avoid loss of manpower; gypsies also used in French galley force^[162]

Rowers[edit]

• ventilation essential (as proven by the Olympias experiment) and lack of it is likely to lead to decline in performance; requires louvres on the sides and on top (at least until just before battle)^[163]

• water requirements at 2.8 t for 400 men (7 l/man + 2 l for other needs)^[164]

Galleys slaves[edit]

Prisoners of war were often used as galley slaves. Several well-known historical figures served time as galley slaves after being captured by the enemy, the Ottoman corsair and admiral Turgut Reis, the Maltese Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette, and the author of Don Quijote, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, among them.

Galley slaves lived in very unhealthy conditions, and many died even if sentenced only for a few years provided they escaped shipwreck and death in battle in the first place.

• "After the Bastille, the galleys were the greatest horror of the old regime." Albert Savine (1909)^[165]; the worst conditions were for condemned Protestants, a small minority^[166]

• relatively lenient sentence compared to contemporary harsh bodily punishment and prisons that forced captors to pay for everything (while galley oarsmen were fed and under strict, but reasonable regulations)^[167]

Piracy[edit]

The triemiolia was a a trireme part of the uppermost row of oarsmen could be removed to make room for a mast, was first developed as a pirate-hunter in Rhodes during the 4th century to catch hemiolias.^[168]

Cilician (modern day southern Turkey) pirates experienced their heydays during the 1st century BC using liburnians, hemiolias and even the occasional trireme. However, they were eradicated in a massive pirate hunting campaign by the former Roman consul Pompey in 67 BC, an operation that created the squadrons that would later become the core of the new Roman regional fleets.^[169]

• an English purpose-built galley with fifty oars [small galley or galley-frigate?] for pirate hunting stationed at Jamaica from 1683^[170]
• Caribbean pirate vessels with oars regularly outran English pirate hunters; lack of sufficient numbers of oar-equipped sloops to run down pirates effectively up to at least the 1720s^[171]
• galleys built in Caribbean by Spanish to replace auxiliary galleon (with oars) force to protect against pirates/privateers; for a short time resulted in a system very like the Mediterranean; replaced by larger galleons 1583/84^[172]

• Barbary corsairs out of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Morocco (and Morea); fought as holy warriors nominally under Ottoman "suzerainty", Christian galley slaves acquired through slave raids; assisted by Western renegades who served as experts, crewmen, gunners, etc. (some even converted); Knights of Saint Stephen operated out of Leghorn (Legorno?), Knights of Saint John out of Malta, both almost exact opposites of Muslim corsairs; Christian corsairs were manned by 30 or so knights, "paid soldiers" (mercenaries?; p. 47), crew and rowing crew of Muslim slaves, Christian convicts and buonavoglie, "free but normally desperate men who rowed unchained and were regarded as some protection against mutiny by the slaves" (p. 47)^[173]
• "mirror image of maritime predation, two businesslike fleets of plunderers set against each other and against the enemies of their faith[s]";^[174] both requires/resulted in a complex and vast economic system sustained by piracy and slave raiding;^[175] a "massive, multinational protection racket" (recent description in the The Times)^[176]
• typical Sallee sailing vessels were almost always equipped with oars and were lightly armed, heavily manned and very fast (fast enough for French admiral Tourville to believe that it took a Sallee prize sold into naval service to catch another Sallee ship)^[177]

• Barbary piracy was upheld despite lack [or shrinking] profits^[178]
• Christian corsairs finally disbanded by Napoleon in 1798 (after seven centuries of crusading)^[179]

• though less romanticized and less famous, Mediterranean corsairs equaled or outnumbered Atlantic and Caribbean (European) pirates^[180]

• an English purpose-built galley with fifty oars [small galley or galley-frigate?] for pirate hunting stationed at Jamaica from 1683^[181]
• Caribbean pirate vessels with oars regularly outran English pirate hunters; lack of sufficient numbers of oar-equipped sloops to run down pirates effectively up to at least the 1720s^[182]
• galleys built in Caribbean by Spanish to replace auxiliary galleon (with oars) force to protect against pirates/privateers; for a short time resulted in a system very like the Mediterranean; replaced by larger galleons 1583/84^[183]

• ghazis "resembled" Knights of Saint John^[184]

Galleys had likely been employed for piracy in the Mediterranean since early Antiquity, and the predatory activities intensified after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The eastern Mediterranean became a kind of no man's land in the 9th century, located in the middle of the rivalry between the Byzantines and Muslim states. The island of Crete, as a Muslim emirate served as a major base for medieval pirates until it was re-captured by the Byzantines in 960.^[185] The Western Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages lacked influence from any major powers, making it even less regulate and prone to piracy, with most of the trade being in more expensive goods (spices, silks, slaves, etc.) in well-defended merchant galleys.^[186]

[lots added to piracy][edit]

Though less romanticized and less famous than Atlantic and Caribbean pirates, the corsairs Mediterranean equaled or outnumbered them at any given point in history.^[187] Mediterranean piracy was conducted almost entirely with galleys until the mid-17th century, when they were gradually replaced with highly maneuverable sailing vessels such as xebecs and brigantines. They were, however, of a smaller type than battle galleys, often referred to as galiots or fustas.^[188] Pirate galleys were small, nimble, lightly armed, but often heavily manned in order to overwhelm the often minimal crews of merchant ships. In general, pirate craft were extremely difficult for patrolling craft to actually hunt down and capture. Anne Hilarion de Tourville, a French admiral of the 17th century, believed that the only way to run down raiders from the infamous corsair Moroccan port of Salé was by using a captured pirate vessel of the same type.^[189] Using oared vessels to combat pirates was common, and was even practiced by the major powers in the Caribbean. Purpose-built galleys (or hybrid sailing vessels) were built by the English in Jamaica in 1683^[190] and by the Spanish in the late 16th century.^[191] Specially-built sailing frigates with oar-ports on the lower decks, like the James Galley and Charles Galley, and oar-equipped sloops proved highly useful for pirate hunting, though they were not built in sufficient numbers to check piracy until the 1720s.^[192]

The expansion of Muslim power through the Ottoman conquest of large parts of the eastern Mediterraneanin the 15th and 16th century resulted in extensive piracy on sea trading. The so-called Barbary corsairs began to operate out of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Morocco and Morea (modern-day Greece) around 1500, preying primarily on the shipping of Christian powers, including massive slave raids on land as well as at sea. They were nominally under Ottoman suzerainty, but had considerable independence to prey on the enemies of Islam. The Muslim corsairs were technically often privateers with support from legitimate, though highly belligerent, states. But they also considered themselves as holy Muslim warriors, or ghazis,^[193] carrying on the tradition of fighting the incursion of Western Christians that had begun with the First Crusade late in the 11th century.^[194] The Barbary corsairs had a direct Christian counterpart in the military order of the Knights of Saint John that operated out of Rhodes (Malta after 15??), though they were less numerous and took fewer slaves. Both sides waged war against the respective enemies of their faith, and both used galleys as their primary weapons. Both sides also used captured or bought galley slaves to man the oars of their ships; the Muslims relying mostly on captured Christians, the Christians using a mix of Muslim slaves, Christian convicts and a small contingency of buonavoglie, free men who out of desperation or poverty had taken to rowing.^[195] Historian Peter Earle has described the two sides of the conflict as "mirror image[s] of maritime predation, two businesslike fleets of plunderers set against each other"^[196]. This conflict of faith in the form of privateering, piracy and slave raiding generated a complex system that was upheld/financed/operated on the trade in plunder and slaves that was generated from a low-intensive conflict, as well as the need for protection from violence. The system has been described as a "massive, multinational protection racket".^[197], the Christian side of which was not ended until 1798 in the Napoleonic Wars. The Barbary corsairs were finally quelled as late as the 1830s, effectively ending the last vestiges of counter-crusading.^[198]

Strategy[edit]

• "inverse relationship between a galley fleet's size and its radius of action"^[199]
• Viking tactics were hand-to-hand fighting; common to form defensive formations by lashing ships together side by side; attacks would be at the flanks with both sides feeding in fresh troops from other ships, including smaller craft; leader ships would often have their (larger) bows in front of others to be the first to engage in battle^[200]
• galleys required less timber to build and were cheaper (simpler design, fewer guns), especially for small states; flexible for ambushes and amphibious operations; needed few skilled seamen; difficult for sailing ships to catch and important for catching other galleys^[201]

• galleys highly susceptible to swamping in open seas, in combination with small stores made for limited range^[202]
• water among the biggest problems for galley range; at 0.5 gallon per man (a low estimate by Guilmartin (p. 63), agreed by Pryor) stores would not last long; medieval galleys carried 3000-5700 liters (800-1600 gallons);^[203] normal water supply of maximum 2-3 weeks, less on merchant galleys which could prioritize cargo or passengers^[204]
• Dotson considers the need to be 4 liters per man, reducing the cruising range by half^[205]

• 17th century galleys could carry two months of (bread) rations (50 tons) at the most, but no wine, and that was considered unpractical due to hampered performance; required support fleets to rendezvous with^[206]

Sailing was restricted in the winter season; most maritime activity was conducted in the period between April and October throughout all of antiquity. Rough weather and storms were potent risks in winter, but the biggest obstacle was poor visibility and cloudy skies. Visibility in the Mediterranean was otherwise very good and the open water distances were few and small enough not to be a major limitation. The navigational tools of the ancient mariner was based on following known stars and constellations and following known landmarks. Pilots familiar with their local coastal areas were also used, as were lead lines that could make soundings and pick up bottom samples. It's possible that primitive sea charts existed, though none have survived.^[207] The open sea was also avoided because it was for the most part a no-man's-land where one risked attack and plunder. The only way to control the ancient sea lanes was to have overwhelming superiority in forces or to control most of the coastal areas, something which required massive resources that only a few large empires were capable of.^[208]

• sailing season highly limited in Mediterranean: late Spring to early Autumn from antiquity to 15th century; possible, but still largely restricted winter travel rest of year after 15th; coastal trunk routes important to keep close to familiar shores, islands (Balearics, Crete, Corsica/Sardinia) and harbors; all battles clustered around these coasts and strategic bases; wind favored travel from west to east and north to south, opposite direction always slower^[209]

In the 16th century, gunpowder artillery was still quite expensive, scarce and still in the early stages of development. The galley therefore remained the most effective warship in the Mediterranean since it was the type of vessel that could be most effective in boarding actions and for amphibious operations, particularly against medieval-type seaside fortifications with relatively thin walls that had been built to stand up to heavy artillery bombardment.^[210] As floating siege batteries, galleys battered down fort and castle walls quickly and could follow up by landing troop to subdue garrisons. With an appropriate base and a supply fleet, they could conduct raids and invasions in a strategic radius of some 3,200 km (2,000 mi).^[211] Before the 1580s, before a sizable arsenal had begun to accumulate, and before the invention of cheaper cast-iron guns, cannons were made from bronze and were quite rare. It was the personnel organizations and administrative structures, as well as the gun arsenals, that were the most vital strategic resources, not the galleys that carried them.^[212]

Unlike sailing vessels, galleys themselves were comparatively cheap and therefore expendable. The administrative and financial problem was not in producing enough hulls, but to supply the manpower to row and fight them, both in terms of quantity and quality, and to acquire the very expensive artillery to arm them. In contrast, sailing ship fleets were from an early stage complex and expensive vessels with large amounts of artillery with temporary, while the crew itself was more expendable.^[213]

A contributing factor to the decline of the galley was the decline of profitability of trade in the Mediterranean after c. 1600 due to increased pirate activity and the inability of states to maintain a monopoly on violence to protect merchants.^[214] The Mediterranean system of maritime warfare was also affected by by economic development and indirectly by technological development: a rise in food prices increased maintenance of armies while lower prices and increasing availability of artillery favored sailing ships. Increasingly larger galleys effectively stunted their own performance, range and amphibious capabilities (being harder to beach, etc.) while the specialist gunnery culture focused on a few large naval guns disappeared.^[215]

• the Mediterranean ceased to be (as) profitable as a trading "theater" after c. 1600: too many conflicts made transports expensive and dangerous, great powers stalemated one another, massive pirate activity, no proper state protection or monopoly on violence; Western European merchants dealing in the Mediterranean evolved powerful defensive measures (and engaged in piracy) to deal with the harsh environment; warfare became more mobile, but predatory actions remained easier than it than to achieve "sea control strategies"^[216]
• decline of Mediterranean system of maritime war was caused by economic development and indirectly by technological development: food prices raised maintenance costs; increased number and cheapness of artillery introduced competing sailing ships; increasingly larger galleys stunted their own performance, range and amphibious capabilities (harder to beach, etc.); loss of specialist artillerist culture rendered single guns ineffective^[217]
• Bamford considers galleys to have been outclassed by sailing vessels; sails could only be beat under particular circumstances (becalmed and/or outnumbered and surrounded) and by letting their guard down; galleys were a waste of resources militarily (instead of going to sailing vessels), though good for "trade and harbor defense" and effective for projecting prestige^[218]

In the 14th and 15th centuries merchant galleys traded high-value goods and carried passengers. Major routes in the time of the early Crusades carried the pilgrim traffic to the Holy Land. Later routes linked ports around the Mediterranean, between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (a grain trade soon squeezed off by the Turkish capture of Constantinople, 1453) and between the Mediterranean and Bruges— where the first Genoese galley arrived at Sluys in 1277, the first Venetian galere in 1314— and Southampton. Although primarily sailing vessels, they used oars to enter and leave many trading ports of call, the most effective way of entering and leaving the Lagoon of Venice. The Venetian galera, beginning at 100 tons and built as large as 300, was not the largest merchantman of its day, when the Genoese carrack of the 15th century might exceed 1000 tons.^[219] In 1447, for instance, Florentine galleys planned to call at 14 ports on their way to and from Alexandria.^[220] The availability of oars enabled these ships to navigate close to the shore where they could exploit land and sea breezes and coastal currents, to work reliable and comparatively fast passages against the prevailing wind. The large crews also provided protection against piracy. These ships were very seaworthy; a Florentine great galley left Southampton on 23 February 1430 and returned to its port at Pisa in 32 days.

• Northern Europe has much more unfriendly waters (and to galleys): dangerous, rocky, gradually shallow shores (unlike sharply deep Mediterranean); difficult tides; violent Atlantic storms; plenty of easy Mediterranean sandy beaches for beaching ships; not until invention of advanced rigging did the North get "fighting chance" to overcome difficulties with sailing ships for both war and trade^[221]

Other uses?[edit]

• "embarrassing failure" of reconstruction of a Roman trireme for Napoleon III in 1860-61; too heavily built, oars too long and of different lengths; target practice and sunk by a torpedo^[222]

• writers in 5th to 16th centuries attempted to explain triremes in their own terms, failing in the process and producing images of impossible constructions due to a lack of understanding of the oar system^[223]

• galleys could "pay" for themselves by hiring out (forced) rowers as laborers out of the patrolling season; very timber efficient in a Mediterranean context of scarcity; required little (very expensive) ordnance in comparison with sailing ships^[224]
• sailing warships "almost never" caught galleys in 16th and 17th centuries that had opportunity to escape^[225]
• Ptolemy IV built a floating villa for travel in style along the Nile^[226]

Religious/ceremonial, prestige[edit]

• early modern states used grand galleys as symbols of power, prestige and symbols of state power: bucentoro, La Réale and Kadirga (see below)

Research[edit]

Archaeology[edit]

Surviving vessels[edit]

The naval museum in Istanbul contains the galley Kadırga (Turkish for "galley"), dating from the reign of Mehmed IV (1648–1687). It was the personal galley of the sultan, and remained in service until 1839. Kadırga is presumably the only surviving galley in the world, albeit without its masts. It is 37 m long, 5.7 m wide, has a draught of about 2 m, weighs about 140 tons, and has 48 oars that were powered by 144 oarsmen.

A 1971 reconstruction of the Real, the flagship of Don Juan de Austria in the Battle of Lepanto 1571, is in the Museu Marítim in Barcelona. The ship was 60 m long and 6.2 m wide, had a draught of 2.1 m, weighing 239 tons empty, was propelled by 290 rowers, and carried about 400 crew and fighting soldiers at Lepanto. She was substantially larger than the typical galleys of her time.

A group called "The Trireme Trust" operates, in conjunction with the Greek Navy, a reconstruction of an ancient Greek Trireme, the Olympias.^[227]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Anderson, Roger Charles, Oared fighting ships: From classical times to the coming of steam. London. 1962.
• Bamford, Paul W., Fighting ships and prisons : the Mediterranean Galleys of France in the Age of Louis XIV. Cambridge University Press, London. 1974. ISBN 0-8166-0655-2
• Basch, L. & Frost, H. "Another Punic wreck off Sicily: its ram" in International journal of Nautical Archaeology vol 4.2, 1975. pp. 201-228
• Bass, George F. (editor), A History of Seafaring, Thames & Hudson, 1972
• Capulli, Massimo: Le Navi della Serenissima - La Galea Veneziana di Lazise. Marsilio Editore, Venezia, 2003.
• Gardiner, Robert & Lavery, Brian (editors), The Line of Battle: Sailing Warships 1650-1840. Conway Maritime Press, London. 1992. ISBN 0-85177-561-6
• Casson, Lionel, "Galley Slaves" in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 97 (1966), pp. 35–44
• Casson, Lionel, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, Princeton University Press, 1971
• Casson, Lionel, "The Age of the Supergalleys" in Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times, University of Texas Press, 1994. ISBN 029271162X [6], pp. 78–95
• Earle, Peter (2003) The Pirate WarsMethuen, London. ISBN 0-413-75880-X
• Glete, Jan, Navies and nations: Warships, navies and state building in Europe and America, 1500-1860. Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm. 1993. ISBN 91-22-01565-5
• Glete, Jan, Warfare at Sea, 1500-1650: Maritime Conflicts and the Transformation of Europe. Routledge, London. 2000. ISBN 0-415-21455-6
• Guilmartin, John Francis, Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge University Press, London. 1974. ISBN 0-521-20272-8
• Hattendorf, John B. & Unger, Richard W. (editors), War at Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Woodbridge, Suffolk. 2003. ISBN 0-85115-903-6 [7]
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  • Bill, Jan, "Scandinavian Warships and Naval Power in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries", pp. 35–51
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  • Glete, Jan, "Naval Power and Control of the Sea in the Baltic in the Sixteenth Century", pp. 215–32
  • Hattendorf, John B., "Theories of Naval Power: A. T. Mahan and the Naval History of Medieval and Renaissance Europe", pp. 1–22
  • Mott, Lawrence V., "Iberian Naval Power, 1000-1650", pp. 103–118
  • Pryor, John H., "Byzantium and the Sea: Byzantine Fleets and the History of the Empire in the Age of the Macedonian Emperors, c. 900-1025 CE", pp. 83–104
  • Rodger, Nicholas A. M., "The New Atlantic: Naval Warfare in the Sixteenth Century", pp. 231–47
  • Runyan, Timothy J., "Naval Power and Maritime Technology During the Hundred Years War", pp. 53–67
• Hutchinson, Gillian, Medieval Ships and Shipping. Leicester University Press, London. 1997. ISBN 0-7185-0117-9
• Knighton, C. S. and Loades, David M., The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 with related documents. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot. 2000. ISBN 0-7546-0094-7
• Lehmann, L. Th., Galleys in the Netherlands. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam. 1984. ISBN 90-290-1854-2
• Morrison, John S. & Gardiner, Robert (editors), The Age of the Galley: Mediterranean Oared Vessels Since Pre-Classical Times. Conway Maritime, London, 1995. ISBN 0-85177-554-3
  • Alertz, Ulrich, "The Naval Architecture and Oar Systems of Medieval and Later Galleys", pp. 142–62
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  • Coates, John, "The Naval Architecture and Oar Systems of Ancient Galleys", pp. 127–41
  • Dotson, John E, "Economics and Logistics of Galley Warfare", pp. 217–23
  • Hocker, Frederick M., "Late Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic Galleys and Fleets", pp. 86–100
  • Morrison, John, "Hellenistic Oared Warships 399-31 BC", pp. 66–77
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  • Shaw, J. T., "Oar Mechanics and Oar Power in Ancient Galleys", pp. 163–71
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• Morrison, John S. & Coates, John F., The Athenian Trireme: the History and Reconstruction of An Ancient Greek Warship. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 2000. ISBN
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External links[edit]

• John F. Guilmartin, "The Tactics of the Battle of Lepanto Clarified: The Impact of Social, Economic, and Political Factors on Sixteenth Century Galley Warfare". A very detailed discussion of galley warfare at the Battle of Lepanto
• (in Spanish) Rafael Rebolo Gómez - "The Carthaginian navy"., 2005, Treballs del Museu Arqueologic d'Eivissa e Formentera.
• "Some Engineering Concepts applied to Ancient Greek Trireme Warships", John Coates, University of Oxford, The 18th Jenkin Lecture, 1 October 2005.

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