The Consul Himself Soon
Followed With A Small Fleet, Hired Principally From The Tarentines,
Locrians, And Neapolitans.
This fleet being attacked by the Carthaginian
fleet, which was not only much more numerous, but better equipped and
manned, and a violent storm rising during the engagement, which dashed many
of the Roman vessels in pieces among the rocks, was completely worsted.
The
Carthaginians, however, restored most of the vessels they captured, only
expostulating with the Romans on the infraction of the treaty at that time
subsisting between the two republics. This loss was in some measure
counterbalanced by Claudius capturing, on his voyage back to Rhegium, a
Carthaginian quinquireme, the first which fell into the possession of the
Romans, and which served them for a model. According to other historians,
however, a Carthaginian galley, venturing too near the shore, was stranded,
and taken by the Romans; and after the model of this galley, the Romans
built many of their vessels.
Claudius was not in the least discouraged by his defeat, observing that he
could not expect to learn the art of navigation without paying dear for it;
but having repaired his fleet, he sailed again for Sicily, and eluding the
vigilance of the Carthaginian admiral, arrived safe in the port of Messina.
After the alliance formed between the Romans and Hiero king of Syracuse,
and the capture of Agrigentium, they resolved to use all their efforts for
the entire subjugation of Sicily. As, however, the Carthaginians were
extremely powerful by sea, they could not hope to accomplish this object,
unless they were able to cope with them on that element. They resolved,
therefore, no longer to trust in any degree to hired vessels, but to build
and equip a formidable fleet of their own. Powerfully actuated by this
resolution, they began the arduous undertaking with that ardour and spirit
of perseverance, which so eminently distinguished them; they deemed it
absolutely necessary to have 120 ships. Trees were immediately cut down in
the forests, and the timber brought to the sea shore: and the whole fleet,
according to Polybius, was not only built, but perfectly equipped and ready
for sea, in two months from the time the trees were felled. Of the 120
vessels of which it was composed, 100 had five benches of rowers, and 20 of
them had three benches.
There was, however, another difficulty to be overcome. It was absolutely
necessary that the men, who were to navigate and fight these ships, should
possess some knowledge of their art; but it was in vain to expect that with
the Carthaginians, so powerful and watchful at sea, the Roman ships would
be permitted to cruise safely long enough to make them practised sailors
and fighters. To obviate this difficulty, they had recourse, according to
Polybius, to a singular but tolerably effectual mode. "While some men were
employed in building the galleys, others, assembling those who were to
serve in the fleet, instructed them in the use of the oar after the
following manner: they contrived benches on the shore in the same fashion
and order as they were to be in the galleys, and placing their seamen, with
their oars, in like manner on the benches, an officer, by signs with his
hand, instructed them how to dip their oars all at the same time, and how
to recover them out of the water. By this means they became acquainted with
the management of the oar; and as soon as the vessels were built and
equipped, they spent some time in practising on the water, what they had
learnt ashore."
The necessity of possessing a fleet adequate to cope with that of the
Carthaginians became more and more apparent; for though the Romans had
obtained possession of all the inland cities in Sicily, the Carthaginians
compensated for this by having the ascendancy by sea, and in the cities on
the coast. The Roman fleet was commanded by Cornelius Scipio, who put to
sea with seventeen ships, in order to secure at Messina reception and
security for the whole fleet; but his enterprise was unfortunate; for,
being deceived by false information, he entered the port of Lipara, where
he was blockaded by the enemy, and obliged to surrender. This partial loss,
however, was soon counterbalanced by a naval victory; for the remainder of
the Roman fleet, amounting to 103 sail, being encountered by a Carthaginian
fleet under Hannibal, who despising the Romans, had advanced to the contest
with only fifty galleys, succeeded in capturing or destroying the whole of
them.
In the mean time, the senate had appointed Duilius commander of the fleet;
and his first object was to survey it accurately, and, if possible, to
improve the construction or equipment of the vessels, if they appeared
defective, either for the purpose of sailing or fighting. It seemed to him,
on examining them, that they could not be easily and quickly worked during
an engagement, being much heavier and more unwieldy than those of the
Carthaginians. As this defect could not be removed, he tried whether it
could not be compensated; and an engineer in the fleet succeeded in this
important object, by inventing that machine which was afterwards called
_corvus_.
The immediate purpose which this machine was to serve is clearly explained
by all the ancient authors who mention it: its use was to stop the enemy's
ships as soon as the Roman vessels came up with them, and thus to give them
an opportunity of boarding them; but the construction and mode of operation
of these machines it is not easy to ascertain from the descriptions of
ancient authors. Polybius gives the following description of them: "They
erected on the prow of their vessels a round piece of timber, about one
foot and a half in diameter, and about twelve feet long, on the top of
which a block or pully was fastened. Round this piece of timber a stage or
platform was constructed, four feet broad, and about eighteen feet long,
which was strongly fastened with iron.
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