them that the warship was a galley provided with a ram, and
fitted with a mast carrying a single square sail; there were also two
banks of oars on each side. The steering was accomplished by two large
oars at the stern, and the fighting troops were carried on a deck or
platform raised on pillars above the heads of the rowers.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Portion of a Phoenician galley. About 700 B.C.
_From Kouyunjik (Nineveh)._]

SHIPBUILDING IN ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.

In considering the history of the development of shipbuilding, we cannot
fail to be struck with the favourable natural conditions which existed
in Greece for the improvement of the art. On the east and west the
mainland was bordered by inland seas, studded with islands abounding in
harbours. Away to the north-east were other enclosed seas, which tempted
the enterprise of the early navigators. One of the cities of Greece
proper, Corinth, occupied an absolutely unique position for trade and
colonization, situated as it was on a narrow isthmus commanding two
seas. The long narrow Gulf of Corinth opening into the Mediterranean,
and giving access to the Ionian Islands, must have been a veritable
nursery of the art of navigation, for here the early traders could sail
for long distances, in easy conditions, without losing sight of land.
The Gulf of AEgina and the waters of the Archipelago were equally
favourable. The instincts of the people were commercial, and their
necessities made them colonizers on a vast scale; moreover, they had at
their disposal the experience in the arts of navigation, acquired from
time immemorial, by the Egyptians and Phoenicians. Nevertheless, with
all these circumstances in their favour, the Greeks, at any rate up to
the fourth century B.C., appear to have contributed nothing to the
improvement of shipbuilding.[8] The Egyptians and Phoenicians both
built triremes as early as 600 B.C., but this class of vessel was quite
the exception in the Greek fleets which fought at Salamis 120 years
later.

The earliest naval expedition mentioned in Greek history is that of the
allied fleets which transported the armies of Hellas to the siege of
Troy about the year 1237 B.C. According to the Greek historians, the
vessels used were open boats, decks not having been introduced into
Greek vessels till a much later period.

The earliest Greek naval battle of which we have any record took place
about the year 709 B.C., over 500 years after the ex