The Travels of Marco Polo
Chapter 25 : _Comito_ or Master 1 Quartermasters 8 Carpenters 2 Caulkers 2 In charge of stores and a

_Comito_ or Master 1 Quartermasters 8 Carpenters 2 Caulkers 2 In charge of stores and arms 4 Orderlies 2 Cook 1 Arblasteers 50 Rowers 180 ----- 250 [22]

This does not include the _Sopracomito_, or Gentleman-Commander, who was expected to be _valens h.o.m.o et probus_, a soldier and a gentleman, fit to be consulted on occasion by the captain-general. In the Venetian fleet he was generally a n.o.ble.[23]

The aggregate pay of such a crew, not including the sopracomito, amounted monthly to 60 _lire de' grossi_, or 600 florins, equivalent to 280_l._ at modern gold value; and the cost for a year to nearly 3160_l._, exclusive of the victualling of the vessel and the pay of the gentleman-commander.

The build or purchase of a galley complete is estimated by the same author at 15,000 florins, or 7012_l._

We see that war cost a good deal in money even then.

Besides the s.h.i.+p's own complement Sanudo gives an estimate for the general staff of a fleet of 60 galleys. This consists of a captain-general, two (vice) admirals, and the following:--

6 _Probi homines_, or gentlemen of character, forming a council to the Captain-General; 4 Commissaries of Stores; 2 Commissaries over the Arms; 3 Physicians; 3 Surgeons; 5 Master Engineers and Carpenters; 15 Master Smiths; 12 Master Fletchers; 5 Cuira.s.s men and Helmet-makers; 15 Oar-makers and Shaft-makers; 10 Stone cutters for stone shot; 10 Master Arblast-makers; 20 Musicians; 20 Orderlies, &c.

[Sidenote: Music; and other particulars.]

30. The musicians formed an important part of the equipment. Sanudo says that in going into action every vessel should make the greatest possible display of colours; gonfalons and broad banners should float from stem to stern, and gay pennons all along the bulwarks; whilst it was impossible to have too much of noisy music, of pipes, trumpets, kettle-drums, and what not, to put heart into the crew and strike fear into the enemy.[24]

So Joinville, in a glorious pa.s.sage, describes the galley of his kinsman, the Count of Jaffa, at the landing of St. Lewis in Egypt:--

"That galley made the most gallant figure of them all, for it was painted all over, above water and below, with scutcheons of the count's arms, the field of which was _or_ with a cross _patee gules_.[25] He had a good 300 rowers in his galley, and every man of them had a target blazoned with his arms in beaten gold. And, as they came on, the galley looked to be some flying creature, with such spirit did the rowers spin it along;--or rather, with the rustle of its flags, and the roar of its nacaires and drums and Saracen horns, you might have taken it for a rus.h.i.+ng bolt of heaven."[26]

The galleys, which were very low in the water,[27] could not keep the sea in rough weather, and in winter they never willingly kept the sea at night, however fair the weather might be. Yet Sanudo mentions that he had been with armed galleys to Sluys in Flanders.

I will mention two more particulars before concluding this digression.

When captured galleys were towed into port it was stern foremost, and with their colours dragging on the surface of the sea.[28] And the custom of saluting at sunset (probably by music) was in vogue on board the galleys of the 13th century.[29]

We shall now sketch the circ.u.mstances that led to the appearance of our Traveller in the command of a war-galley.

[1] I regret not to have had access to Jal's learned memoirs (_Archeologie Navale_, Paris, 1839) whilst writing this section, nor since, except for a hasty look at his Essay on the difficult subject of the oar arrangements. I see that he rejects so great a number of oars as I deduce from the statements of Sanudo and others, and that he regards a large number of the rowers as supplementary.

[2] It seems the more desirable to elucidate this, because writers on mediaeval subjects so accomplished as Buchon and Capmany have (it would seem) entirely misconceived the matter, a.s.suming that all the men on one bench pulled at one oar.

[3] See _Coronelli, Atlante Veneto_, I. 139, 140. Marino Sanudo the Elder, though not using the term _trireme_, says it was well understood from ancient authors that the Romans employed their rowers _three to a bench_ (p. 59).

[4] "_Ad terzarolos_" (_Secreta Fidelium Crucis_, p. 57). The Catalan Worthy, Ramon de Muntaner, indeed constantly denounces the practice of manning _all_ the galleys with _terzaruoli_, or _tersols_, as his term is. But his reason is that these thirds-men were taken from the oar when crossbowmen were wanted, to act in that capacity, and as such they were good for nothing; the crossbowmen, he insists, should be men specially enlisted for that service and kept to that. He would have some 10 or 20 per cent, only of the fleet built very light and manned in threes. He does not seem to have contemplated oars three-banked, and crossbowmen _besides_, as Sanudo does. (See below; and _Muntaner_, pp. 288, 323, 525, etc.)

In Sanudo we have a glimpse worth noting of the word _soldiers_ advancing towards the modern sense; he expresses a strong preference for _soldati_ (viz. _paid_ soldiers) over _crusaders_ (viz.

volunteers), p. 74.

[5] _L'Armata Navale_, Roma, 1616, pp. 150-151.

[6] See a work to which I am indebted for a good deal of light and information, the Engineer Giovanni Casoni's Essay: "_Dei Navigli Poliremi usati nella Marina dagli Antichi Veneziani_," in "_Esercitazioni dell' Ateneo Veneto_," vol. ii. p. 338. This great _Quinquereme_, as it was styled, is stated to have been struck by a fire-arrow, and blown up, in January 1570.

[7] _Pantera_, p. 22.

[8] _Lazarus Bayfius de Re Navali Veterum_, in _Gronovii Thesaurus_, Ven.

1737, vol. xi. p. 581. This writer also speaks of the Quinquereme mentioned above (p. 577).

[9] _Marinus Sanutius_, p. 65.

[10] See the woodcuts opposite and at p. 37; also _Pantera_, p. 46 (who is here, however, speaking of the great-oared galleys), and _Coronelli_, i. 140.

[11] _Casoni_, p. 324. He obtains these particulars from a ma.n.u.script work of the 16th century by Cristoforo Ca.n.a.le.

[12] Signor Casoni (p. 324) expresses his belief that no galley of the 14th century had more than 100 oars. I differ from him with hesitation, and still more as I find M. Jal agrees in this view. I will state the grounds on which I came to a different conclusion. (1) Marino Sanudo a.s.signs 180 rowers for a galley equipped _ai Terzaruoli_ (p. 75). This seemed to imply something near 180 oars, for I do not find any allusion to reliefs being provided. In the French galleys of the 18th century there were no reliefs except in this way, that in long runs without urgency only half the oars were pulled. (See _Mem.

d'un Protestant cond.a.m.ne aux Galeres_, etc., Reimprimes, Paris, 1865, p. 447.) If four men to a bench were to be employed, then Sanudo seems to calculate for his smaller galleys 220 men actually rowing (see pp.

75-78). This seems to a.s.sume 55 benches, i.e., 28 on one side and 27 on the other, which with 3-banked oars would give 165 rowers. (2) Casoni himself refers to Pietro Martire d'Anghieria's account of a Great Galley of Venice in which he was sent amba.s.sador to Egypt from the Spanish Court in 1503. The crew amounted to 200, of whom 150 were for working the sails and oars, _that being the number of oars in each galley_, one man to each oar and three to each bench. Casoni a.s.sumes that this vessel must have been much larger than the galleys of the 14th century; but, however that may have been, Sanudo to his galley a.s.signs the larger crew of 250, of whom almost exactly the same proportion (180) were rowers. And in he _galeazza_ described by Pietro Martire the oars were used only as an occasional auxiliary. (See his _Legationis Babylonicae Libri Tres_, appended to his 3 Decads concerning the New World; _Basil_. 1533, f. 77 _ver._) (3) The galleys of the 18th century, with their great oars 50 feet long pulled by six or seven men each, had 25 benches to the side, and only 4' 6" (French) gunnel-s.p.a.ce to each oar. (See _Mem. d'un Protest._, p. 434.) I imagine that a smaller s.p.a.ce would suffice for the 3 light oars of the mediaeval system, so that this need scarcely be a difficulty in the face of the preceding evidence. Note also the _three hundred rowers_ in Joinville's description quoted at p. 40. The great galleys of the Malay Sultan of Achin in 1621 had, according to Beaulieu, from 700 to 800 rowers, but I do not know on what system.

[13] _Marinus Sanutius_, p. 78. These t.i.tles occur also in the _Doc.u.menti d'Amore_ of Fr. Barberino referred to at p. 117 of this volume:--

"Convienti qui manieri _Portolatti e prodieri_ E presti galeotti Aver, e forti e dotti."

[14] Spinello's works, according to Vasari, extended from 1334 till late in the century. A religious picture of his at Siena is a.s.signed to 1385, so the frescoes may probably be of about the same period. Of the battle represented I can find no record.

[15] Engraved in Jal, i. 330; with other mediaeval ill.u.s.trations of the same points.

[16] To these Casoni adds _Sifoni_ for discharging Greek fire; but this he seems to take from the Greek treatise of the Emperor Leo. Though I have introduced Greek fire in the cut at p. 49, I doubt if there is evidence of its use by the Italians in the thirteenth century.

Joinville describes it like something strange and new.

In after days the artillery occupied the same position, at the bow of the galley.

Great beams, hung like battering rams, are mentioned by Sanudo, as well as iron crow's-feet with fire attached, to shoot among the rigging, and jars of quick-lime and soft soap to fling in the eyes of the enemy. The lime is said to have been used by Doria against the Venetians at Curzola (infra, p. 48), and seems to have been a usual provision. Frances...o...b..rberini specifies among the stores for his galley: "_Calcina_, con lancioni, Pece, pietre, e ronconi" (p. 259.) And Christine de Pisan, in her _Faiz du Sage Roy Charles_ (V. of France), explains also the use of the soap: "_Item_, on doit avoir pluseurs vaisseaulx legiers a rompre, comme _poz plains de chauls_ ou pouldre, et gecter dedens; et, par ce, seront comme avuglez, au brisier des poz. _Item_, on doit avoir autres _poz de mol savon_ et gecter es nefzs des adversaires, et quant les vaisseaulx brisent, le savon est glissant, si ne se peuent en piez soustenir et chieent en l'eaue" (pt. ii. ch. 38).

[17] _Balislariae_, whence no doubt _Balistrada_ and our _Bal.u.s.trade_.

Wedgwood's etymology is far-fetched. And in his new edition (1872), though he has s.h.i.+fted his ground, he has not got nearer the truth.

[18] _Sanutius_, p. 53; _Joinville_, p. 40; _Muntaner_, 316, 403.

[19] See pp. 270, 288, 324, and especially 346.

[20] See the _Protestant_, cited above, p. 441, et seqq.

[21] _Venezia e le sue Lagune_, ii. 52.

[22] _Mar. Sanut._ p. 75.

[23] _Mar. Sanut._, p. 30.

[24] The Catalan Admiral Roger de Loria, advancing at daybreak to attack the Provencal Fleet of Charles of Naples (1283) in the harbour of Malta, "did a thing which should be reckoned to him rather as an act of madness," says Muntaner, "than of reason. He said, 'G.o.d forbid that I should attack them, all asleep as they are! Let the trumpets and nacaires sound to awaken them, and I will tarry till they be ready for action. No man shall have it to say, if I beat them, that it was by catching them asleep.'" (_Munt._ p. 287.) It is what Nelson might have done!

The Turkish admiral Sidi 'Ali, about to engage a Portuguese squadron in the Straits of Hormuz, in 1553, describes the Franks as "dressing their vessels with flags and coming on." (_J. As._ ix. 70.)

[25] A cross _patee_, is one with the extremities broadened out into _feet_ as it were.

[26] Page 50.

[27] The galley at p. 49 is somewhat too high; and I believe it should have had no _shrouds_.

[28] See _Muntaner_, pa.s.sim, e.g. 271, 286, 315, 349.