11-10-2010, 02:16 AM
Paul B. wrote:
Some equipment, spare oars, spars, sails, cordage, anchors and so on, along with modest supplies of food and above all water were stored in the bottom of the boat/bilges. If battle was imminent, the vessel's 'sailing gear' - mast, yard, sail, shrouds, supports and rigging, often the anchor, and any other heavy gear were left behind on shore.
( which latter may have led to tragedy at the battle of Arginusae - a victory over the Peloponnesians that restored Athens naval supremacy. News of the victory was met with joy at first at Athens, and the Athenian public voted to bestow citizenship on the slaves and metics who had fought in the battle. Their joy was soon tempered, however, by news of the aftermath of the battle, in which heavy weather ( and possibly the absence of necessary anchors) prevented the ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes from getting to them, and some 5,000 or so sailors drowned. A fury erupted at Athens when the public learned of this tragic loss, and after a political struggle in the assembly, six of the eight admirals who had commanded the fleet were tried as a group and executed.( see Diodorus, XIII.101; Xenophon, I.07 for interesting accounts).
Later triremes were equipped with a second, smaller, mast/bowsprit and small sail ( the 'artemon') carried into battle and raised to aid escape in the event of defeat.
Quote:Well, clearly galleys could sink depending on what is in their hold,.....A minor point....strictly speaking, a 'trireme'(Greek: 'Triereis' , lit.'triple furnished/equipped' - a reference to the three banks of oars) didn't have a 'hold'. The vessel was more or less a monocoque shell.
Some equipment, spare oars, spars, sails, cordage, anchors and so on, along with modest supplies of food and above all water were stored in the bottom of the boat/bilges. If battle was imminent, the vessel's 'sailing gear' - mast, yard, sail, shrouds, supports and rigging, often the anchor, and any other heavy gear were left behind on shore.
( which latter may have led to tragedy at the battle of Arginusae - a victory over the Peloponnesians that restored Athens naval supremacy. News of the victory was met with joy at first at Athens, and the Athenian public voted to bestow citizenship on the slaves and metics who had fought in the battle. Their joy was soon tempered, however, by news of the aftermath of the battle, in which heavy weather ( and possibly the absence of necessary anchors) prevented the ships assigned to rescue the survivors of the 25 disabled or sunken Athenian triremes from getting to them, and some 5,000 or so sailors drowned. A fury erupted at Athens when the public learned of this tragic loss, and after a political struggle in the assembly, six of the eight admirals who had commanded the fleet were tried as a group and executed.( see Diodorus, XIII.101; Xenophon, I.07 for interesting accounts).
Later triremes were equipped with a second, smaller, mast/bowsprit and small sail ( the 'artemon') carried into battle and raised to aid escape in the event of defeat.
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
