le of Lepanto had in it six
galeasses from the arsenal of Venice; and whereas an average galley carried
110 soldiers and 222 galley slaves, the crews of these galeasses comprised
270 soldiers, 130 sailors, and 300 galley slaves.

The speed of the galley was calculated by the French engineer Forfait to be
in the most favourable circumstances, that is to say in a flat calm, but
four and a half knots for the first hour, and two and a quarter to one and
a half miles per hour for subsequent hours; the exhaustion of the rowers
consequent on their arduous toil would not admit of a greater speed than
this. The studies of Forfait were made when the invasion of England by
rowing boats was a topic of burning interest. It is evident from this that
long voyages, trusting to the oar alone, could not be undertaken; but as we
have seen, the galley was also provided with motive power in the shape of
two masts carrying the lateen sail, which may be still seen in so many
Mediterranean craft.

That the galley was no vessel in which to embark in bad weather is
instanced for us by the disasters which befell a Spanish fleet of these
craft in 1567 under the Grand Commander of Castile, Don Luiz de Requesens.
A revolt of the Moors in Granada had caused Philip the Second to wish to
withdraw a certain number of Spanish troops from Italy. Requesens was sent
to Genoa with twenty-four galleys to embark a detachment of an army corps
then stationed in Piedmont. Each galley embarked one hundred and fifty
soldiers; they then got under way and reached the island of Hyeres, where
they anchored, the weather being too bad to proceed. At the end of their
eighth day in port a number of vessels were seen flying to the eastward
before the wind; it was a squadron of Genoese.

Requesens, who was no seaman, was furious. Here were the Genoese at sea,
and he wasting his time in harbour; if they could keep the sea why could
not he, he demanded? He instantly ordered the anchors to be weighed. The
commander of the Tuscan galleys, of which there were ten in the fleet,
immediately went on board the galley in which Requesens was embarked and
represented that the wind was foul and that should they leave their
anchorage they could make no headway once they got clear of the land. But
Requesens was obstinate: "if others can go on their way it is shameful that
I should not proceed on mine," he protested. Alfonso d'Aragona argued with
him in vain, representing that his master,