ice Arsenal by
Vettor Fausto, was the subject of so much talk and excitement, that it
must evidently have been something quite new and unheard of.[6] So late as
1567 indeed the King of Spain built at Barcelona a galley of thirty-six
benches to the side, and seven men to the bench, with a separate oar to
each in the old fashion. But it proved a failure.[7]

Down to the introduction of the great oars the usual system appears to
have been three oars to a bench for the larger galleys, and two oars for
lighter ones. The _fuste_ or lighter galleys of the Venetians, even to
about the middle of the 16th century, had their oars in pairs from the
stern to the mast, and single oars only from the mast forward.[8]

[Sidenote: Some details of the 13th century Galleys.]

27. Returning then to the three-banked and two-banked galleys of the
latter part of the 13th century, the number of benches on each side seems
to have run from twenty-five to twenty-eight, at least as I interpret
Sanudo's calculations. The 100-oared vessels often mentioned (e.g. by
_Muntaner_, p. 419) were probably two-banked vessels with twenty-five
benches to a side.

[Illustration]

The galleys were very narrow, only 15-1/2 feet in beam.[9] But to give
room for the play of the oars and the passage of the fighting-men, &c.,
this width was largely augmented by an _opera-morta_, or outrigger deck,
projecting much beyond the ship's sides and supported by timber
brackets.[10] I do not find it stated how great this projection was in the
mediaeval galleys, but in those of the 17th century it was _on each side_
as much as 2/9ths of the true beam. And if it was as great in the
13th-century galleys the total width between the false gunnels would be
about 22-1/4 feet.

In the centre line of the deck ran, the whole length of the vessel,
a raised gangway called the _corsia_, for passage clear of the oars.

[Illustration]

The benches were arranged as in this diagram. The part of the bench next
the gunnel was at right angles to it, but the other two-thirds of the
bench were thrown forward obliquely, _a, b, c_, indicate the position of
the three rowers. The shortest oar _a_ was called _Terlicchio_, the middle
one _b Posticcio_, the long oar _c Piamero_.[11]

[Illustration: Galley-Fight, from a Mediaeval Fresco at Siena. (See p.
36)]

I do not find any information as to how the oars worked on the gunnels.
The Siena fresco (see p. 35) appears to show them attached by lo