Of The General Smallness Of The
Greek And Roman Ships, We Need No Other Proof, Than That They Were
Accustomed To Draw Them On Land When In Port, And During The Winter; And
That They Were Often Conveyed For A Considerable Space Over Land.
They were
sometimes made in such a manner that they could easily and quickly be taken
to pieces, and put together again.
Thucydides asserts that the ships which
carried the Greeks to Troy were not covered; but in this he is contradicted
by Homer.
The principal officer in ships intended for trade was the pilot: he was
expected to know the right management of the sails, rudder, &c. the wind,
and celestial bodies, the harbours, rocks, quick-sands, and course to be
steered. The Greeks were far behind the Phoenicians in many parts of
nautical knowledge: we have seen that the latter at an early period changed
the Greater for the Lesser Bear, for the direction of their course; whereas
the Greeks steered by the Greater Bear. In very early periods it was the
practice to steer all day by the course of the sun, and at night to anchor
near the shore. Several stars were observed by the pilot for the purpose of
foretelling the weather, the principal of which were Arcturus, the Dog
Star, Orion, Castor and Pollux, &c. In the time of Homer, the Greeks knew
only the four cardinal winds; they were a long time ignorant of the art of
subdividing the intermediate parts of the horizon, and of determining a
number of rhombs sufficient to serve the purposes of a navigation of small
extent.
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