A Wisdom Archive on Galley - Penteconters

The term galley can refer to any ship propelled primarily by man-power, using oars. Most galleys also use masts and sails as a secondary means of propulsion. Various types of galleys dominated naval warfare in the Mediterranean from the time of Homer to the development of effective naval gunnery around the 15th and 16th centuries. Galleys fought in the wars of ancient Persia, Greece, Carthage and Rome until the 4th century. After the fall of the Roman Empire, galleys saw continued, if somewhat reduced, use by the Byzantine Empi ... Including:

• Galley - Ancient galleys
• Galley - The first galleys
• Galley - Penteconters
• Galley - Triremes
• Galley - Quinqueremes and polyremes
• Galley - Later galleys
• Galley - Medieval galleys in northern Europe
• Galley - The Renaissance
• Galley - The last galleys
• Galley - Other links
• Galley - Other meanings

Read more here: » Galley: Encyclopedia - Galley

Galley - Medieval galleys in northern Europe. A development of the Viking longships and knaars, north European galleys, clinker-built, used a square sail and rows of oars, and looked very like their Norse predecessors. In the waters off the west of Scotland between 1263 and 1500, the Lords of the Isles used galleys both for warfare and for transport around their maritime domain, which included the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Antrim in Ireland. They employed these ships for sea-b ...

Read more here: » Galley: Encyclopedia II - Galley - Later galleys

A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, sometimes with multiple decks. A ship usually has sufficient size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts. A rule of thumb saying (though it doesn't always apply) goes: "a boat can fit on a ship, but a ship can't fit on a boat". Often local law and regulation will define the exact size (or the number of masts) which a boat requires to become a ship. (Note that one refers ... Including:

• Ship - Measuring ships
• Ship - Propulsion
• Ship - General terminology
• Ship - Shipboard terminology
• Ship - Some types of ships and boats
• Ship - Some historical types of ships and boats
• Ship - Quotations

Read more here: » Ship: Encyclopedia - Ship

Until the application of the steam engine to ships in the early 19th century, oars propelled galleys or the wind propelled sailing ships. Before mechanisation, merchant ships always used sail, but as long as naval warfare depended on ships closing to ram or to fight hand-to-hand, galleys dominated in marine conflicts because of their maneuverability and speed. The Greek navies that fought in the Peloponnesian War used triremes, as did the Romans contesting the Battle of Actium. The use of large numbers of cannon from the 16th century meant that maneuverability took second place to broadside weight; this led to the dom ...

Read more here: » Ship: Encyclopedia II - Ship - Propulsion

One can measure ships in terms of overall length, length of the waterline, beam (breadth), depth (distance between the crown of the weather deck and the top of the keelson), draft (distance between the highest waterline and the bottom of the ship) and tonnage. A number of different tonnage definitions exist; most measure volume rather than weight, and are used when describing merchant ships for the purpose of tolls, taxation, etc. In Britain until the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876, ship-owners could load their vessels until their deck ...

Read more here: » Ship: Encyclopedia II - Ship - Measuring ships

Galley - The first galleys. Galleys travelled the Mediterranean from perhaps 3000 BC. The Greeks and Phoenicians built and operated the first known ships to navigate the Mediterranean: merchant vessels with square-rigged sails. The first military vessels, as described in the works of Homer and represented in paintings, had a single row of oarsmen along each side (in addition to the s ...

Read more here: » Galley: Encyclopedia II - Galley - Ancient galleys