I.

Introduction

Galley, in maritime history, a type of large, seagoing warship propelled by oars and, more frequently, by sail. In the 18th and 19th centuries the name was also applied to certain classes of sailing-rowing warships and merchant ships, and to some types of small boats as well. The warships of Phoenicia, Greece, and other ancient maritime nations were galleys fitted with rams at the front of the boat; they were in use as early as 850 bc. The earliest galleys were probably long, narrow, open boats with decks at the bow and sometimes at the stern, and with a narrow gangway extending down the center of the hull over the rowers. The oars pivoted on the gunwales, top edge of the boat hull, or through oar ports cut in the topsides of the hull. A row of oarsmen sat on each side, protected from enemy projectiles by a light, open rail on which were hung their shields or, in some instances, hides or heavy woven material.

Greek vase paintings show that these single-level, or one-banked, vessels had as many as 20 oars on a side and were about 24 m (about 80 ft) long. The maximum number of oars on a side in a single-banked galley appears to have been 25; such a galley would have been just over 30 m (100 ft) in length.

II.

Multibanked Galleys

By about 700 bc, galleys with two banks of rowers, called biremes, were in use. The earliest biremes apparently had two decks with oarsmen, one above the other. Later, to reduce the height of the boat above the waterline, galleys were built with the upper bank seated inboard of and between the rowers of the lower bank. Thus, the seats of the upper bank did not have to be above the heads of the lower bank. The two-banked galley was rowed with one man to the oar. As early as the time of the Assyrian Empire (about 1700-600 bc), two-banked galleys were built with a complete fighting deck above the upper bank of oarsmen. Single-banked galleys with such decks are also shown in early Greek vase paintings.

The desire to increase the speed and ramming power of the galley led to the introduction, sometime before 500 bc, of three-banked galleys, which are called triremes. This type was employed by ancient Greece, Rome, and other Mediterranean maritime nations. Considerable controversy exists regarding the seating arrangment of the oarsmen in these galleys. Enough evidence seems to exist, however, to assume that the lowest bank of oarsmen sat close to the side of the hull and rowed through oar ports about 84 cm (about 33 in) above the waterline, possibly using shorter oars than the other banks. The second bank sat inboard of the lower bank. The third-bank oarsmen sat above the lowermost bank and between pairs of oarsmen in the second bank. The oars of the third bank apparently pivoted on an outrigger, or rowing frame, constructed by projecting the deck beams outboard and capping them with heavy timber.

The Athenian trireme had 54 oarsmen in the lowest, or thalamite, bank, 54 in the second, or zygite, bank, and 62 in the uppermost, or thranite, bank. Such a galley would have a length of about 39 m (about 128 ft) and a maximum width of perhaps 4.6 m (15 ft) at the waterline. The boat would sink about 1.2 m (about 4 ft) into the water.

The early galleys appear to have been fitted with a single mast and sail, placed a little forward of amidships; some of the later three-banked galleys had two or three masts and sails, which were lowered before going into battle. When cruising, the two- and three-banked vessels commonly used only one bank, the oarsmen working short watches so that they did not all become tired at the same time.

About 325 bc, four- and five-banked galleys (quadriremes and quinqueremes) appeared. How the oarsmen and oars were arranged in these craft and in the later multibanked ships is not known with certainty, but it seems improbable that the oar-per-man arrangement of the three-banked ships was continued in the four- and five-banked ships.

These larger, cumbersome galleys were replaced by the Liburnian galley in the 3rd century ad . The Liburnian galley was a relatively small vessel designed for speed and used two banks of oars on a side and a large sail. Long a favorite cruiser of the Romans, it was used by them in 31 bc at the Battle of Actium.

III.

Middle Ages and Later

Among the types of galleys developed in the Middle Ages were the Byzantine dromon and the Italian galley. The Byzantine dromon was a fast, two-banked sailing galley having 25 oars on a side. The Italian galley had all the oars on one level; one, two, or three men sat on the same bench to row, each with his own oar. The benches were at an angle to the centerline of the boat so that the rowers on the same bench would not interfere with each other. The Italian galley carried 120 oarsmen and from 40 to 50 soldiers and sailors. It had a single mast and a triangular sail. The Italian galley was about 39 m (about 128 ft) long, and had a maximum width of about 5 m (about 16.4 ft). At the front of the galley was a deck structure in which heavy missile weapons such as catapults were located. The crew lived on deck, and the officers were quartered at the extreme stern in a raised cabin.

In the 13th century the tarida appeared. The tarida was nearly twice as wide as the Italian galley. Equipped with two masts and carrying about 150 oarsmen, it was used as a transport. Merchant galleys, from 46 to 52 m (150 to 170 ft) long and with a width of 5.5 to 7 m (18 to 23 ft), were also introduced. These vessels usually had three masts. By the middle of the 16th century the ordinary galley had an overall length of about 50 m (about 165 ft), a waterline length of 40 m (131 ft), and a width of about 5.5 m (about 18 ft). The galley had 150 rowers, and the total crew aboard consisted of about 220 men. The oars used in these galleys were longer and counterbalanced. The galleys of this period carried three to five heavy guns, pointed forward, and a number of pivoting, small, light guns.

Another 16th-century development was the galleass, a three-masted rowing-sailing ship, about 50 m (165 ft) long, with 45 to 49 oars, up to 350 rowers, and a total crew of about 700 men.

The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 between Christian forces and the Ottoman Empire was the last of the great galley battles; thereafter the naval importance of galleys steadily declined. By the last half of the 18th century the naval galley was no more than a small gunboat employed in inland waters and in coastal defense.

Galleys continued in use as merchant ships, however. Merchant galleys were built in New England at the end of the 17th century and in the Mediterranean and Baltic countries as late as the first quarter of the 19th century.