ght in the great French wars, two
centuries later, but their general appearance was similar. The rig was
different, but not markedly so, while the hulls of the ships presented
many points of general likeness. The Elizabethan ships were, however,
very much smaller than most of the rated ships in use in the eighteenth
century.

[Illustration: A GALLIASSE]

The galleon, or great ship, at the end of the sixteenth century, was
sometimes of as much as 900 tons. She was generally low in the waist,
with a high square forecastle forward, a high quarter-deck, raised above
the waist, just abaft the main-mast, and a poop above the quarter-deck,
sloping upward to the taffrail. These high outerworks were shut off from
the open waist (the space between the main-mast and the forecastle) by
wooden bulkheads, which were pierced for small, quick-firing guns. Below
the upper, or spar deck, she had a gun-deck, if not more than one, with
guns on each side, and right aft. The galliasse was sometimes
flush-decked, without poop and forecastle, and sometimes built with
both, but she was never so "high charged" as the galleon. The pinnace
was as the galliasse, though smaller.

The galleon's waist was often without bulwarks, so that when she went
into action it became necessary to give her sail trimmers, and spar-deck
fighting men, some protection from the enemy's shot.[20] Sometimes this
was done by the hauling up of waist-trees, or spars of rough untrimmed
timber, to form a sort of wooden wall. Sometimes they rigged what was
called a top-arming, or top armour, a strip of cloth like the "war
girdle" of the Norse longships, across the unprotected space. This
top-arming was of canvas some two bolts deep (3 feet 6 inches), gaily
painted in designs of red, yellow, green, and white. It gave no
protection against shot, but it prevented the enemy's gunners from
taking aim at the deck, or from playing upon the hatchways with their
murderers and pateraroes. It also kept out boarders, and was a fairly
good shield to catch the arrows and crossbow bolts shot from the enemy's
tops. Sometimes the top-arming was of scantling, or thin plank, in which
case it was called a pavesse. Pavesses were very beautifully painted
with armorial bearings, arranged in shields, a sort of reminiscence of
the old Norse custom of hanging the ship's sides with shields. Another
way was to mask the open space with a ranged hemp cable, which could be
cleared away after the fight.