Part 12 (1/2)
The upper deck of the trireme is about eleven feet above the harbor waves, but the lowest oar holes are raised barely three feet. Into the intervening s.p.a.ce the whole complicated rowing apparatus has to be crammed with a good deal of ingenuity. Running along two thirds of the length of the hull nearly the whole interior of the vessel is filled with a series of seats and foot rests rising in sets of three. Each man has a bench and a kind of stool beneath him, and sits close to a porthole. The feet of the lowest rower are near the level of the water line; swinging two feet above him and only a little behind him is his comrade of the second tier; higher and behind in turn is he of the third.[*] Running down the center of the s.h.i.+p on either side of these complicated benches is a broad, central gangway, just under the upper deck. Here the supernumeraries will take refuge from the darts in battle, and here the regular rowers will have to do most of their eating, resting, and sleeping when they are not actually on the benches or on sh.o.r.e.
[*]The exact system by which these oar benches were arranged, the crew taught to swing together (despite the inequalities in the length of their oars), and several other like problems connected with the trireme, have received no satisfactory solution by modern investigators. [Note from Brett: Between 1985 and 1987 John Morrison and John Coates oversaw a reproduction of a trireme which has an excellent study of bench arrangements and several other problems connected with the trireme were likely solved.]
108. The Rowers' Benches of a Trireme.--With her full complement of rowers the benches of the ”Invincible” fairly swarm with life.
There are 62 rowers to the upper tier (thranites), 58 for the middle tier (zygites), and 54 for the lower (thalamites), each man with his own individual oar. The TRHANITES with the longest oars (full 13 feet 6 inches) have the hardest pull and the largest pay, but not one of the 174 oarsmen holds a sinecure. In ordinary cruising, to be sure, the trireme will make use of her sails, to help out a single bank of oars which must be kept going almost all the time.
Even then it is weary work to break your back for a couple of hours taking your turn on the benches. But in battle the trireme almost never uses sails. She becomes a vast, many-footed monster, flying over the foam; and the pace of the three oar banks, swinging together, becomes maddening. Behind their bulwarks the rowers can see little of what is pa.s.sing. Everything is dependent upon their rowing together in absolute rhythm come what may, and giving instant obedience to orders. The trireme is in one sense like a latter-day steamer in her methods of propulsion; but the driving force is 174 straining, panting humans, not insensate water vapor and steel.
109. The Cabins, Rigging, and Ram of a Trireme.--Forward and aft of the rowers' benches and the great central gangway are the fore and stern cabins. They furnish something akin to tolerable accommodations for the officers and a favored fraction of the crew. Above the forecastle rises a carved proudly curing prow, and just abaft it are high bulwarks to guard the javelin men when at close quarters with the foe. There is also on either side of the prow a huge red or orange ”eye” painted around the hawse holes for the anchors.
Above the stern cabin is the narrow deck reserved for the pilot, the ”governor” of the s.h.i.+p, who will control the whole trireme with a touch now on one, now on the other, of the huge steering paddles which swing at the sides near the stern. Within the stern cabin itself is the little altar, sacred to the G.o.d or G.o.ddess to whom the vessel is dedicated, and on which incense will be burned before starting on a long cruise and before going into battle. Two masts rise above the deck, a tall mainmast nearly amids.h.i.+ps, and a much smaller mast well forward. On each of these a square sail (red, orange, blue, or even, with gala s.h.i.+ps, purple) will be swung from a long yard, while the vessel is cruising; but it is useless to set sails in battle. One could never turn the s.h.i.+p quickly enough to complete the maneuvers. The sails and yards will ordinarily be sent ash.o.r.e as the first measure when the admiral signals ”clear s.h.i.+p for action.”
We have now examined all of the ”Invincible” except for her main weapon,--her beak; for the trireme is really herself one tremendous missile to be flung by the well-trained rowers at the ill-starred foe. Projecting well in front of the prow and close to the water line are three heavy metal spurs serrated one above the other, somewhat thus[*]:
|_______ |======= |====|___ |======== =====|______ /============= / / */
Let this fang once crush against a foeman's broadside, and his timbers are crushed in like eggsh.e.l.ls.
[*]Probably at Salamis and in the earlier Athenian army the ram had been composed of a single long, tapering beak.
110. The Officers and Crew of a Trireme.--So much for the ”Invincible”
herself, but obviously she is a helpless thing without an efficient crew. The life of an oarsman is far from luxurious, but the pay seems to be enough to induce a goodly number of THETES (the poorest cla.s.s of the Athenian citizens) to accept service, and the rest can be supplied by hired metics or any kind of foreign nondescript who can be brought into discipline. The rowers are of course the real heart and soul of the trireme; but they are useless without proper training. Indeed it was the superior discipline of the Athenian crews which in the days of Themistocles and Pericles gave Athens the supremacy of the seas. The nominal, and sometimes actual, commander of the trireme is her trierarch; but obviously a cultivated old gentleman like Eustathius is no man to manage the s.h.i.+p in a sea fight. He will name some deputy, perhaps a stout young friend or a son, for the real naval work. Even he may not possess great experience. The real commander of the ”Invincible” is the ”governor”
(KYBERNATES), a gnarled old seaman, who has spent all his life upon the water. Nominally his main duty is to act as pilot, but actually he is in charge of the whole s.h.i.+p; and in battle the trierarch (if aboard) will be very glad to obey all his ”suggestions.” Next to the ”governor” there is the PROIREUS, another experienced sailor who will have especial charge of the forecastle in battle. Next in turn are two ”oar-masters” (TOIXARCHOI), who are each responsible for the discipline and working of one of the long rowers' benches; and following in grade, though highly important, are the KELEUSTeS, and the TRIeRAULeS, who, by voice and by flute respectively, will give the time and if needs be encouragement to the rowers. These are all the regular officers, but naturally for handling the sails and anchors some common sailors are desirable. The ”Invincible”
carries 17 of these. She also has 10 marines (EPIBAT?), men trained to fight in hoplite's armor and to repel boarders. The Persian s.h.i.+ps at Salamis carried 30 such warriors, and often various Greek admirals have crowded their decks with these heavy marines; but the true Athenian sea warrior disdains them. Given a good helmsman and well-trained rowers, and you can sink your opponent with your ram, while he is clumsily trying to board you. Expert opinion considers the EPIBAT? somewhat superfluous, and their use in most naval battles as disgracefully unscientific.
111. A Trireme at Sea.--A trireme, then is an heroic fighting instrument. She goes into battle prepared literally to do or die.
If her side is once crushed, she fills with water instantly, and the enemy will be too busy and too inhumane to do anything but cheer l.u.s.tily when they see the water covered with struggling wretches.
But the trireme is also a most disagreeable craft before and after the battle. Her light draft sets her tossing on a very mild sea.
In the hot southern climate, with very little ventilation beneath the upper deck, with nigh two hundred panting, naked human beings wedged in together below so closely that there is scarce room for one more, the heat, the smells, the drudgery, are dreadful. No wonder the crew demanded that the trierarch and governor ”make sh.o.r.e for the night,” or that they weary of the incessant grating of the heavy oars upon the thole-pins.
Thus the ”Invincible” will seem to any squeamish voyager, but not so to the distant spectator. For him a trireme is a most marvelous and magnificent sight. A sister s.h.i.+p, the ”Danae,”[*] is just entering the Peiraeus from Lemnos (an isle still under the Athenian sovereignty). Her upper works have been all brightened for the home-coming. Long, brilliant streams trail from her sail yards and p.o.o.p. The flute player is blowing his loudest. The marines stand on the forecastle in glittering armor. A great column of foam is spouting from her bow.[+] Her oars, eighty-seven to the side, pumiced white and hurling out the spray, are leaping back and forth in perfect unison. The whole vessel seems a thing of springing, ardent life. It is, indeed, a sight to stir the blood.
No later sailing s.h.i.+p in her panoply of canvas, no steam battles.h.i.+p with her grim turrets and smoking funnels can ever match the spectacle of a trireme moving in her rhythm and glory.
[*]The Greek s.h.i.+ps seem to have been named either for mythological characters, or for desirable qualities and virtues.
[+]At her best a trireme seems to have been capable of making 8 to 9 knots per hour.
112. The Tactics of a Naval Battle.--Imagination can now picture a Greek naval battle, fifty, a hundred, two hundred, or more of these splendid battles.h.i.+ps flying in two hostile lines to the charge.[*]
Round and round they will sail, each pilot watching the moment when an unlucky maneuver by the foe will leave a chance for an attack; and then will come the sudden swinging of the helm, the frantic ”Pull hard!” to the oarsmen, the rending crash and shock as the ram tears open the opponents side, to be followed by almost instant tragedy. If the direct attack on the foe's broadside fails, there is another maneuver. Run down upon your enemy as if striking bow to bow; the instant before contact let your aim swerve--a little.
Then call to your men to draw in their oars like lightning while the enemy are still working theirs. If your oarsmen can do the trick in time, you can now ride down the whole of the foemen's exposed oar bank, while saving your own. He is left crippled and helpless, like a huge centipede with all the legs on one side stripped away. You can now back off deliberately, run out your oars, an in cold blood charge his exposed flank. If he does not now surrender, his people are dead men. Excellent to describe!
Not always so excellent in performance. Everything depends on the perfect discipline and handiness of your crew.
[*]A more detailed picture of an ancient naval battle and its tactics can be found in the author's historical novel, ”A Victor of Salamis” (Chap. XXIX).