sole fact that galley and steamship can move at any
moment directly upon the enemy, and carry a beak upon their prow,
regardless of the points in which galley and steamship differ. As yet
this opinion is only a presumption, upon which final judgment may well
be deferred until the trial of battle has given further light. Until
that time there is room for the opposite view,--that a _melee_
between numerically equal fleets, in which skill is reduced to a
minimum, is not the best that can be done with the elaborate and
mighty weapons of this age. The surer of himself an admiral is, the
finer the tactical development of his fleet, the better his captains,
the more reluctant must he necessarily be to enter into a _melee_ with
equal forces, in which all these advantages will be thrown away,
chance reign supreme, and his fleet be placed on terms of equality
with an assemblage of ships which have never before acted together.[2]
History has lessons as to when _melees_ are, or are not, in order.

The galley, then, has one striking resemblance to the steamer, but
differs in other important features which are not so immediately
apparent and are therefore less accounted of. In the sailing-ship, on
the contrary, the striking feature is the difference between it and
the more modern vessel; the points of resemblance, though existing and
easy to find, are not so obvious, and therefore are less heeded. This
impression is enhanced by the sense of utter weakness in the
sailing-ship as compared with the steamer, owing to its dependence
upon the wind; forgetting that, as the former fought with its equals,
the tactical lessons are valid. The galley was never reduced to
impotence by a calm, and hence receives more respect in our day than
the sailing-ship; yet the latter displaced it and remained supreme
until the utilization of steam. The powers to injure an enemy from a
great distance, to manoeuvre for an unlimited length of time without
wearing out the men, to devote the greater part of the crew to the
offensive weapons instead of to the oar, are common to the sailing
vessel and the steamer, and are at least as important, tactically
considered, as the power of the galley to move in a calm or against
the wind.

In tracing resemblances there is a tendency not only to overlook
points of difference, but to exaggerate points of likeness,--to be
fanciful. It may be so considered to point out that as the
sailing-ship had guns of long range, with c