atee 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
rushing 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 circumstances 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, assuming 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