Greece had accepted the ship as it had evolved in the hands of the Ph?nicians with certain modifications10. We are no longer anxious to trace that development, but rather to see, in the first place, how the Greeks availed themselves of their inheritance. In the building of their ships the Greeks gave neither sternpost nor stempost. The timbers of the ships were held together by means of wooden pegs11 (or treenails, as we should call them), and also by metal nails, bronze being chosen in preference to iron nails for the most obvious of reasons. But in those days, as any student of Greek history is aware, not infrequently craft had to be transported. Therefore the fastenings were so30 placed as to allow of the ship being divided into sections for carrying across land to some distant water. The outer framework of the hull13 was found in the keel and ribs14. The ship’s planking, which varied16 from the somewhat ample 2? inches to 5? inches thick, was fastened through the ribs to the beams.
The warships17 had most necessarily to be built of the utmost strength to sustain the terrible shocks in ramming19. To prevent the damage incurred20 being disastrous21, cables—called hypozomata—undergirded the ship. The Greek word signifies the diaphragm or midriff in anatomy22, but in the plural23 it is used to designate the braces24 which were passed either underneath25 or horizontally around the ship’s hull. The reader may remember that in “Sailing Ships and their Story” I called attention to the Egyptian ships, which used to be strengthened by stretching similar cables not girth-wise, but direct from stem to stern across the deck over wooden forks amidships. Primarily, then, these braces on the Greek ships were to counteract26 the effects of ramming; incidentally they kept the ship’s hull from “working” when she pounded in heavy seas.
And then when the shipwright27 had finished his construction of the ship she was coloured with a composition consisting of paint and wax, the latter serving to give these speedy ships the minimum of skin-friction28. The colours chosen were purple, two whites, violet, yellow, and blue. Green, for the sake of invisibility, was used for scouts29 and pirates. The primitive30 Grecian ships had only patches of colour at the bows, the rest of the hull being covered black with tar31. Occasionally neither wax nor tar was employed, but the hull was sheathed32 with lead outside the planking, layers of tarred sailcloth being placed in between the two materials. They made their sails either of linen33, or, sometimes, of papyrus34 fibre or flax, and there were31 two kinds of sailcloth which the Athenian Navy utilised. The bolt-ropes of the sails were of hide, the skins of the hyena35 and seal being especially employed. The ropes used for the different purposes of the ship were of two kinds. Some were of strips of hide; more frequently they were from the fibre of papyrus or from flax or hemp36. The sails were often coloured—black for mourning, purple or vermilion for an admiral or monarch37. Topsails were sometimes coloured, the lower sail remaining uncoloured. The green-hulled scouts also had their sails and ropes dyed to match the colour of the Mediterranean38. And sometimes the interesting sight would be seen of sails with inscriptions39 and devices woven in golden thread into the fabric40.
There is a Greek word askos, which signifies a leathern bag or wine-skin, from which the word askoma is derived41. The latter was the word given to a leathern bag which was attached to the oar8 so as to prevent the water from penetrating42 through into the ship, and yet allowed, with only slight friction, the oar to be brought backward and forward. There is something slightly similar to-day in the leather flap which is found on the Bristol Channel pilot cutters, covering the discharge from the watertight cockpits, the motion of the ship through the water causing the flap to be pressed tightly against the hull, and thus preventing any water from entering. But in the instance of the Grecian craft the flap was much bigger. There were no rowlocks, but the oar was fastened by a leathern loop to a thole-pin against which the rower pulled his oar.
Bear in mind that, whereas the Greek merchant-ship mostly relied on sails, the warship18 was essentially43 oar-propelled. And because she must needs carry a large number of rowers they needed supervision45. Hence a gangway was placed on either side of the ship, both for that purpose and also for the placing of32 the fighting men. Illustrations on ancient Greek vases clearly show that some warships were fitted with a hurricane-deck above, and this extended down the length of the ship, but not from one side to the other. This hurricane-deck, if we are to give any credence46 to contemporary illustrations, was a fairly light affair raised on vertical47 supports of sufficient strength. In addition to the human ballast of the oarsmen, gravel48, sand, and stone were used for trimming the ship. For instance, it might be necessary to get the bows deeper into the water so that the ram12 came into operation; or, after ramming and receiving damage, it might be found advisable to trim the ship by the stern so as to get the bows well out of water. To what extent these craft leaked one cannot say; but one can reasonably suppose that as they were built of unseasoned wood, as the shocks from ramming were very injurious, and as they had to suffer a good deal of wear and tear through frequent beaching, they made a fair amount of water. At any rate, it is certain that they provided against this in arranging an Archimedean screw, worked by a treadmill49, or buckets for getting rid of the bilge-water. It is probable, also, that the drinking-water in cisterns50 or skins would be deposited as low in the hull as possible.
The Greeks, in addition to their technical ability, had inherited a similar sea-instinct to that of the Ph?nicians, and this keenness is by no means absent from Greek literature. What, for instance, could be more enthusiastic than the following exquisitely51 poetic52 extract from Antipater of Sidon:—
“Now is the season for a ship to run through the gurgling water, and no longer does the sea gloom, fretted53 with gusty54 squalls; and now the swallow plasters her globed houses under the rafters, and the soft leafage laughs in the meadows. Therefore wind up your soaked cables, O sailors, and weigh your sunken33 anchors from the harbours, and stretch the forestays to carry your well-woven sails. This I, the son of Bromius, bid you, Priapus of the anchorage.”3
It is an exhortation55, at the return of spring, to refit the ships which had been laid up since the winter, tethered to the “soaked cables.” It is an invitation to get the ships properly afloat, to step the masts and set up the forestay in all readiness for getting under way for the sailing season.
Or again, listen to Leonidas of Tarentum in a similar theme.
“Now is the season of sailing,” he says, “for already the chattering56 swallow is come and the pleasant west wind; the meadows flower, and the sea, tossed up with waves and rough blasts, has sunk to silence. Weigh thine anchors and unloose thine hawsers57, O mariner58, and sail with all thy canvas set: this I, Priapus of the harbour, bid thee, O man, that thou mayest sail forth60 to all thy trafficking.”4
“Mine be a mattress61 on the poop,” sings5 Antiphilus with no less ecstasy62 of the life on board a Grecian ship, “mine be a mattress on the poop, and the awnings63 over it sounding with the blows of the spray, and the fire forcing its way out of the hearth-stones, and a pot upon them with empty turmoil64 of bubbles; and let me see the boy dressing65 the meat, and my table be a ship’s plank15 covered with a cloth; and a game of pitch-and-toss, and the boatswain’s whistle: the other day I had such fortune, for I love common life.”
Three thousand years, indeed, before the birth of our Lord there were ships sailing the ?gean Sea, but it was only the progress of time and experience which made these craft and their crews’ ability anything more than primitive. As you look through the poems of34 Homer you find various significant references to craft, and he speaks of the “red-cheeked” ships, referring to the vermilion-coloured bows, where a face was frequently painted, red being the conventional colour in those early times for flesh. The same idea is still seen in the Chinese junks and the Portuguese66 fishing craft.
“Mine be a mattress on the poop.”
The earliest Grecian ships were crescent-shaped, and the stern so resembled the horn of a cow that it was called the korumba or point. There is a reference in35 the Iliad to the high-pointed sterns of ships. From Homer, too, we know that the timber employed in shipbuilding consisted of oak, pine, fir, alder67, poplar, and white poplar; that the masts and oars were of fir, that the woodwork of the hull was erected68 on shipbuilders’ stocks. The word used for the latter was druochoi—meaning the props69 on which the keel (tropis) was laid. The hull was secured by treenails and dowel-joints, the planking being laid over the ribs. Further, we know also that the ship of Homer had either twenty or fifty oarsmen.
The pre-Homeric Greeks did not use thole-pins, but the oars were fastened to the gunwale by means of leathered hoops70. It was not till a later date that the pins already mentioned came into use. It is noticeable, too, that Homer uses the word kleides in referring to the thwarts72 on which the rowers sat. For the singular of this word means a hook or clasp, and is used in this sense for the thwart71 or rowing bench which locked the sides of the ship together. Zuga is also used in the Odyssey73 to signify the same thing. In attempting to piece together these fragmentary details of the Homeric ship, we must bear in mind that below the zuga or rowing thwarts the hold was undecked, but that fore1 and aft there ran the half-decks—ikria, Homer calls them. The forecastle formed at once a cabin and a look-out post, and helped to keep the forward end protected when butting74 into a sea. Right aft, of course, sat the helmsman, or kubernetes, and it is supposed that a bench here stretched across the poop on which, as he sat on deck, he could rest his feet and work the oieion or handle of the rudder. A Greek ship usually had two pedalia or steering oars, one being placed on either quarter. These were joined together across the ship by means of cross-bars (zeuglai), to which the tiller or handle was attached. Finally, over36 the poop rose the tail-piece which is so noticeable in some of the vase-illustrations of Grecian ships, and had its counterpart in the lotus-bud seen in the ships of the Egyptians.
Homer speaks of “stepping the mast” (histos), and apparently75 the step was affixed76 as low as possible, its heel being supported by a prop44 and capable of being easily lowered before the galley77 went into battle under oar-propulsion alone. The forestays, which just now we saw Antipater urging the sailors to stretch, were two in number. The Homeric word for these is protonoi, though the word was used by Euripides in speaking of the braces which controlled the yards. On the yard which stretched at right angles across the mast both merchantmen and warships set the squaresail, and the use by Homer of the word meruomai for drawing up or furling sails is sufficiently78 indicative that the ancient Greek sailors stowed sail not by lowering it on deck as in a modern fore-and-after, but after the fashion of a modern full-rigged ship.
We find mention also of the halyards—one on each side of the mast is shown in the Greek vase designs—which supported the yard to the top of the mast, the sail being reefed by means of brailing lines. The same word that we have just mentioned, for “drawing up” or “furling” sails, was also employed for drawing up the cables. And here again there is a further connection. The plural kaloi is used to mean (1) cables, (2) reefing ropes (i.e. brails), or even reefs as opposed to the sheets (podes) and braces (huperai). Euripides employs the expression kalōs exienai, meaning to “let out the reefs.” And (3) kaloi also means not merely generally a rope, but also a sounding line, which again is evidence that these ancient seamen79 found the depth of water as the modern sailor feels his way through shoal seas. The word just given for sheets was applied80 to the lower37 corners of the sail—clews as we nowadays call them—and thus naturally the ropes attached to the foot (or lowest part) were also called podes. The braces were called huperai, obviously because they were in fact the upper ropes.
As we have just seen from Antipater and Leonidas, the mariner used cables and hawsers for securing his ship, these being sent out from both bow and stern. Instead of anchors the early Greeks used heavy stones for the bow cables, whilst other hawsers were run out from the stern to the shore and hitched81 on to a big boulder82 or rock. If the former, then there was a hole therein. An endless rope was rove through this perforated stone, so that thus the ship could be hauled ashore83 for disembarking, or when wishing to go aboard again, sufficient slack of course having been left at the bow cables. A long pole was used for shoving off, while a ladder, which is seen more than once in Greek vase illustrations, was carried at the stern for convenience in descending84 to the land from the high-pointed sterns.
There were two sailing seasons. The first was after the rising of the Pleiads, in spring; the second was between midsummer and autumn. When, after the setting of the Pleiads, the ship was hauled up into winter quarters on land, she was supported by props to keep her upright, and then a stone fence was put round her. This afforded her protection against wind and weather. The cheimaros, or plug, was then taken out from the bottom so as to let out all the bilge-water. The ship’s gear, the sails, steering oars, and tiller were then stored at home till the time came once more for the sailors to “stretch” their forestays.
About the year 700 B.C. the Greek warships were manned by fifty rowers; hence these craft were called pentekontoroi. With the existence of a forecastle and a38 raised horned poop, one can understand perfectly85 well how easy was the transition which caused an upper deck to be added about this century. This gave to the ship greater power, because it allowed two banks of oarsmen, one on each deck. As far as possible these rowers were covered in to avoid the attacks of the enemy. Such shallow-draught87 vessels as the war-galleys88 could not possibly be good as sailing craft. They must be looked upon as essentially rowing vessels which occasionally set canvas when cruising and a fair wind was blowing.
The pentekontoroi were single-banked, and for a long time the Greek fleets consisted solely89 of this type. But then came the additional deck just spoken of which gave two banks, and subsequently the trireme succeeded the bireme. The trireme was very popular till after the close of the Peloponnesian War, when the quadrireme was introduced from Carthage. Dr. Oskar Seyffert6 asserts that before the close of the fourth century B.C. quinquiremes and even six-banked craft, and (later still) even sixteen-banked vessels are supposed by some writers to have been in vogue90. But as to the latter this seems highly improbable.
And before we proceed any further, let us endeavour to get a clear idea as to the nature of a trireme. This species of ship had been invented by those great seamen who hailed from the port of Sidon. About the year 700 B.C. this type was adopted by the Greeks, and then began to supersede91 all other existing types of war-vessels. Themistocles in 483 B.C. inaugurated the excellent practice of maintaining a large permanent navy. As a commencement he built a hundred triremes, and these were used at the battle of Salamis. In the Greek word trieres there is nothing to signify that it was necessarily three-banked, and it is well to realise39 this fact from the start. The word just means “triple-arranged,” neither more nor less. It is when we come to the question as to the details of this triple arrangement that we find a divergence92 of theory. It will, therefore, be best if we state first the prevailing93 theory of the trireme’s arrangement, and then pass on to give what is the more modern and the more plausible94 interpretation95.
Cast of a Relief in Athens.
Showing the disposition96 of rowers in a trireme.
The most general idea, then, is that the trireme was fitted with three tiers of oarsmen. In this case the thalamitai were those who sat and worked on the lowest tier; the zugitai, those who sat on the beams; whilst the thranitai were the men who sat on the highest tier. (Homer refers to the seven-foot bench, or thrēnus, which was the seat of the helmsman or the rowers). Each oarsman, it is thought, sat below and slightly to the rear of the oarsman above him, so that these three sections of men formed an oblique97 line. This economised space and facilitated their movements. A variation of this same theory suggests that the thalamitai sat close to the vessel3’s side, the zugitai who were higher up being distant from the side the breadth of one thwart, whilst the thranitai, higher still, were the breadth of two thwarts away. The oar of each rower would pass over the head of the rower below.
But a better theory of the arrangement of the trireme may be presented as follows, and it has the advantage of satisfying all the evidence found in ancient literature and pictorial98 representation. Banish99, then, from your mind all thought of three superimposed tiers, and instead consider a galley so arranged that the rowers work side by side. Each of the triple set of oarsmen sits pulling his own separate oar. But all three oars emerge through one porthole. In front of each bench was a stretcher, and the rower stood up grasping his oar and pulled back, letting the full weight of his body40 fall on to the stroke till at its end he found himself sitting on the bench. On either side of him, at the same bench, was another rower doing the same exertion100. In each porthole there would thus be three thole-pins to fit three oars. In this case, then, the thalamitēs would be he who rowed nearest the porthole. Because he worked the shortest oar and thus had the least exertion he received the least pay. Next to him sat the zugitēs, and next to the latter came the thranitēs, who worked the longest oar, and therefore did the most work, having to stand on a stool (thranos) in order to get greater exertion on to his oar at the beginning of the stroke. It is supposed that the rowers’ benches were not all in the same plane, but that the second would be higher than the first, and the third higher than the second.
The number of oars in an ancient trireme was as many as 170. These oars were necessarily very long, and time was kept sometimes by the music of a flute101, or by the stroke set by the keleustes, who was on board for that purpose. This he did either with a hammer of some sort, or his voice. And there is at least one illustration showing such a man using a hammer in an oar-propelled boat for that purpose.7 The inscriptions which were unearthed102 some years ago, containing the inventories103 of the Athenian dockyards, belonging to the years between 373 B.C. and 323 B.C., have been collected and published. And it is from them that we obtain such valuable information as the number of oarsmen which the biremes carried. This number was usually 200, and was disposed in the ship as follows: There were 54 thalamitai, 54 zugitai, 62 thranitai, and 30 perineo. The exact meaning of the latter word is supercargoes or passengers, but they were carried perhaps as spare oarsmen in case any became disabled.
41 All oars were worked together against the tholes, and as we know from the old depictions there was a space left both at bow and stern beyond the oarsmen, this space being called the parexeiresia. The number of oarsmen just mentioned may seem very large, but having regard to the speed required for man?uvring and for ramming effectively it is not excessive. But when a war-vessel was employed on transport duty so great a host of men was not essential. In the case of a vessel engaged, for instance, in carrying horses in her hold only sixty oarsmen were needed. Had you found yourself alongside one of the war-galleys you would have been struck by its length and leanness more than by anything else. As you passed round by the bows you would have observed the two great eyes, one on either side of the hull, through which in all probability the hawsers passed. Behind these two eyes were very substantial catheads which projected like great ears from the ship, and were used primarily for slinging104 the anchors just as in the old-fashioned sailing ships of Nelson and after; but, secondly105, for convenience when ramming. Thus, when the terrible shock came, the catheads would protect the oars of the ship from damage and allow the utmost speed to be maintained till the last minute—a factor that was naturally of the highest importance. But also they were sometimes strengthened with supports so that they might catch in the topsides of the enemy and do him considerable damage.
As to the ram, which was the pivot106 of all the ancient naval tactics, there was one projecting spur below, but above it was another ram to catch the attacked ship at a second place. These rams107 were made of bronze and had three teeth; or if not made of bronze they were of wood sheathed with that metal. The stempost in these craft rose high in the air, and each ship had a distinguishing sign consisting either of a figurehead or some42 relief or painting at the bows. Of the two kinds of sails which these vessels carried, the larger was put ashore prior to battle, and only the smaller one retained. And as there were two sizes of sails, so there were two sizes of masts to correspond. Besides the halyards, brailing ropes, cables, braces, sheets, and forestay already alluded108 to, there were also backstays to support the masts. This was up to about the year 400 B.C., but, at any rate, by 330 B.C. triremes had simply mast, yard, sail, ropes, and the loops of brailing ropes, a simplified form of the earlier brails.
Showing eye and both upper and lower ram, each with triple teeth.
But additional to the triremes which had been first built at Corinth, were the quadriremes which first appeared in the year 398 B.C. As to their nature, their complement110, and other details we know nothing. But it is legitimate111 to suppose that if the triremes rowed three men to a bench these were manned by four men43 on each bench rowing four oars in a similar manner. In the same year that first saw the quadriremes were built also quinquiremes. As to their size and complement we know just this much—that at the battle of Ecnomus the Roman and Carthaginian quinquiremes carried about 300 rowers and 120 combatants each. Probably, like the medieval quinquiremes, they rowed five men to each oar; or, alternatively, the five men each pulled an oar through the same porthole.
Some of the later developments of the marine59 instinct in the Mediterranean and adjacent seas became grotesque112. Personal pride and a keen sense of rivalry113 caused the King of Sicily and his brother sovereigns of Macedonia, Asia, and Alexandria during the fourth and third centuries B.C. to construct men-of-war on a huge scale. A temple in Cyprus commemorates114 the builder of a twenty- and a thirty-fold vessel. But there was even a forty-fold vessel constructed by Ptolemy Philopator about the year 220 B.C., which was the size of one of our big liners of to-day. Two hundred and eighty cubits she measured in length, thirty-eight she was wide. Her stem rose 48 cubits above the water with only a 4-cubit draught, while the stern-ornament was 53 cubits high in the air. Fitted with a double prow which had seven rams, a double stern with four steering paddles 30 cubits each in length, the largest of her oars measured 38 cubits in length, but they were nicely balanced by weighting them with an equipoise of lead near the handles. Twelve strong cables 600 cubits long girded her together, and her complement was far greater than any vessel of modern times, four thousand oarsmen, 400 sailors, 2850 soldiers, to say nothing of the retinue115 of servants and the stores which she carried besides. There was also an enormous Nile barge116 280 cubits long, built by Sesostris, but such craft as the fore-mentioned must be looked upon less as an44 opportunity for practising the seaman117’s art than as a vulgar display of wealth.
The true war-vessel was made in the proportions of length seven or eight times her width, and drew about 3 feet of water. Light, shallow, and flat, not particularly seaworthy, they were utterly118 different from the round, heavy, strong, decked merchantman. The war-galley’s triple-spiked ram had come into use as far back as 556 B.C. The galley was most certainly fast and built of fir with a keel of oak. Competent modern authorities agree in estimating the speed of the galley and merchantman in those days as about 7? to 4 (or 5) knots respectively.
Portions of Early Mediterranean Anchor in Lead found off the Coast of Cyrene.
(In the British Museum.)
When stone was discarded and metal anchors began to be adopted about the year 600 B.C., they were made first of iron. Some idea of the weight of the holding tackle in vogue may be gathered from the statement that an anchor weighing less than 56 lbs. was used in the Athenian navy. (For the sake of comparison, it may be added that this is about the weight of a modern 10-ton yacht’s bower119 anchor.) Stone and lead were affixed to these anchors by iron clamps near the bottom of the shank. The ships of the Athenian navy carried45 each a couple of anchors, while large merchant ships carried several, as we know from the voyages of St. Paul. Cork120 floats were employed for buoying121 the anchors, as to-day, and also served the purpose of lifebuoys. Usually the ships rode to rope cables, but sometimes to chain ones. It can readily be imagined that when these light ships pitched fore and aft into a sea the two large steering oars at the high stern would be frequently out of the water, and thus quite easily the vessel would not be under command. In such instances another pair was placed at the bows. Like the modern Arabs, the early seamen of the Mediterranean had to go aloft as best they could by climbing the sail, the mast, or hanging their weight on any rope they could find.
“Curiously122,” says Mr. Torr in his invaluable123 little book “Ancient Ships,” to which I am considerably124 indebted, “the practice was always to brail up half the sail when the ship was put on either tack86, the other half being thereby125 transformed into a triangle with base extending from the middle of the yard to the leeward126 end of it, and apex127 terminating in the sheet below.” Apparently, when the yard was braced128 round the sail was furled on the arm that came aft, but left unfurled on the arm that went forward.
It is quite certain that the ancient Mediterranean seamen did perform voyages at night when they had attained129 to experience and confidence, and there is at least one plain reference in Greek literature to a lighthouse, as in the following passage: “No longer dreading130 the rayless night-mist, sail towards me confidently, O seafarers; for all wanderers I light my far-shining torch, memorial of the labours of the Asclepiad?.”8
Some of the early vase paintings show the war-galley not with a ram as developed subsequently, but a46 pig’s snout, and the korumba or poop extremity131, shaped like a cow’s horn, could be lopped off by the victor and retained as a trophy132. And in looking at these ancient galleys one must not forget that they were built not as the English shipbuilders of, say, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries laid down ships. Galleys were built far more quickly and easily—whole fleets of them—when the first rumour133 of war arrived. Capable as they were of being put together with greater dispatch, launched with far greater ease, and needing many tons less material than one of the famous wooden walls which in later years were to sail the seas, it required not quite so much enterprise if the ancients desired ships, and consequently there was no small inducement for men to become expert in the things of the sea. How important was the shipbuilding industry regarded by the Mediterraneans may be seen from the careful arrangements made a long time ahead for obtaining adequate supplies of timber. About the year 380 B.C. a treaty was made between Amyntas III and the Chalkidians regulating the export and import of shipbuilding materials; for it must not be forgotten that southern Makedon, the Chalkidic peninsula, and Amphipolis were the chief sources whence Athens derived its xula naupegesima—ship-timber—for her dockyards. This record is found in a marble which was discovered at Olynthos, and is now at Vienna.
At Corinth and other places there were all the accessories of a shipbuilding yard on a big scale, including proper slips, and even ship-tramways running down to the sea for hauling ships ashore. At such yards long, narrow rowing galleys and round, broad sailing merchant ships were put together with all the skill which the Greeks possessed134. Here hulls135 were built out of pine, cedar136, and cypress137, while the interiors were constructed of pine, lime, plane, elm, ash, acacia, or mulberry. Here47 we could have watched the masts and yards being fashioned out of fir or pine, whilst others were busy caulking138 seams with tow, or heating the wax and tar over the cauldrons.
But the picture of the ancient Greek shipbuilding activity is far from complete owing to the comparatively scant139 material which exists. In 1834, when the workmen were digging the foundations for a building at the Pir?us, they came upon a Roman or Byzantine drain, and discovered it to be lined with slabs140 of marble which were covered with inscriptions. These were some of the inventories of the Athenian dockyards of the fourth century B.C., and will be found published in August B?ckh’s “Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum,” Vol. II, Part II, p. 158.
In any consideration of the Greek seamen we must think of them as existing almost exclusively for one purpose—not for trading or exploring or fishing, but for fighting. Into the latter was poured practically all their seafaring energy. Their general naval strategy consisted of two kinds. The first consisted in reproducing afloat the principles of fighting on shore. To this end the galleys were massed with troops as many as they could hold, and so soon as the engaging combatants could get close enough they attacked each other with spears and shot arrows from their bows. The victory therefore came to that floating army which had the most numerous and ablest soldiers. Brute141 force rather than tactics: energy rather than skill won the day.
And thus it continued until about the end of the fifth century B.C., when another method of fighting was introduced and developed by the Athenians to its most perfect state. This consisted as follows: The well-manned, quickly-darting galley shot out against the enemy, pecked deeply—viciously—with its beak142, and then hurried out of the danger sphere as quickly48 as it had entered. Connected with the general strategy of ramming there were two distinct schemes of tactics employed. The first was called diekplous, or sailing through. This consisted of breaking the enemy’s line. A single line of galleys would pass between the enemy’s line, make a sharp turn, and then swoop143 down on to them from astern, doing the utmost damage with their rams. The other was technically144 known as periplous, or sailing around, and consisted in outflanking the enemy’s ships so as to charge them with the beak against their broadside. Thus it will be seen that neither of these man?uvres involved a direct prow-to-prow attack, for the reason that the Athenian ships were too light as to the bows. Prior to a fight protective awnings of sailcloth or horsehair were spread over the open spaces on these galleys, and every protection that could be afforded the essential oarsmen was provided. Everything points to the fact that the Greek fleets were properly organised and drilled. An admiral’s ship was distinguished145 by a flag as well as any purple or vermilion sail which she might carry so as most easily to be discernible across the waters. When the fleet was at sea doing a passage before a fair wind bound for the battle area, the admiral’s sail would in itself be sufficient for a sign. But, as already emphasised, sails were lowered before the battle commenced, and it is probable that either the flag was displayed somewhere about the ship in that case, or that some other method, such as the colour of the hull, was employed to cause the discrimination. It is probable that the Greek admiral’s ship at night, like that of the Roman admiral, carried three lights, the other warships having one light each, except the transports, which were distinguished by two.
Shield Signalling.
In battle a national flag was used so as to facilitate recognition of one’s own vessels from those of the49 enemy. And, as illustrative of the development of the early naval tactics, it is well to notice that there existed a signalling code—the displaying of a purple flag, for instance, being the signal for going into action. Mr. Torr mentions the interesting fact that attempts were made at semaphoring with a single flag, and further at signalling by flashing the sunlight from a shield. In addition to the above, signals were made for getting50 under way, for altering the formation of the fleet, for bringing-to, as well as for disembarking troops.
Their seamanship was necessarily simple, because their ships had no complicated gear and were primarily rowing craft. We know that they used the sounding lead armed with grease, and the numerous landmarks146 of the ?gean Sea and the neighbouring waters would be more than well known to those in command of the ships sailing. When one thinks of the bare simplicity147 of the Mediterranean galley, the fighting ship of Tudor times with all its sails and rigging and running gear points to a far more elaborate species of seamanship with a corresponding increase of anxiety. As to the division in supervising the ship’s work, the officers consisted as follows: The captain of the trireme—called trierarchos—was in supreme148 command of his ship. Under him came the kubernetes or helmsman. Then forward stood the officer in command of the bow—the proreus or look-out man. Under these three officers the ship was man?uvred in such a manner that either the enemy’s hull might be pierced or, at any rate, his protruding149 lines of oars smashed into splinters, thus rendering150 him an easy prey151.
For the most part the representations of ancient classical ships have been so carefully made that they have every appearance of accuracy, taking into consideration the possibilities of wind, sails, and sea, but occasionally mistakes are made which show that the artist certainly was not a seaman. In the accompanying illustration9 we have an instructive picture of a penteconter. She sets two sails with a bowline shown on the mizzen, but interesting as the picture is in many ways, yet the sails are clearly not set in accordance with the wind. The steering oar at the side and the51 flag on the staff at the bows will be immediately noticed.
Greek Penteconter from an Ancient Vase.
That the artist was not a seaman is obvious from the ludicrous way in which the sails are depicted152.
To sum up, then, the Greek seamen evolved their ships as follows: Like the Egyptians and Ph?nicians before them, they began with a penteconter, which means that each man pulled an oar and that there was but one tier of twenty-five on either side of the ship. Next, inasmuch as they wanted increased power and speed—possibly because the ships were being built more strongly and thus needed more vehemently153 to be rammed154—so they had to increase the number of their oarsmen and to lengthen155 their ship. This involved a risk of hogging156, so the hull was engirdled; or when that was dispensed157 with a deck was added to join forecastle and poop, and gave facilities for a second tier of rowers. In the next step we get the introduction of triremes, quadriremes, and quinquiremes, which multiplied the number of men rowing from each bench, but placed all the men on one bench pulling their oars through the same porthole. After this come the monstrosities of the powerful Egyptian, Sicilian, and other kings, in whose ships each oar was probably pulled by any number of men from six to forty. But luxury certainly came afloat at no late date. Professor Flinders Petrie calls attention10 to the extraordinary analogy between the work of the Myken?ans and that of the Egyptians in the grandly52 embroidered158 squaresails painted in the frescoes159 at Myken?. Certainly as far back as 232 B.C. there were mosaics160 to be seen on the magnificent ship of Hiero II of Syracuse.11
Not less interesting were the ships and ways of ancient Rhodes, which in like manner had its dieres, trieres, tetreres, penteres, even up to seven- and nine-fold ships. In addition to these they had a swift type of their own invention, having one bank of oars, called celoces. They were wont161, also, to use another fast type of craft called triemioli?, which had no fighting deck stretching from end to end. The usual Rhodian naval tactics consisted in endeavouring to run through the enemy’s line and break the oars of his ships as they passed. Afterwards the Rhodians would then turn and ram them at the stern or else on the beam, always carrying away something that was essential for working the ship unless they could sink her forthwith.
They were very fond of one device in particular. When they were positively162 compelled to ram stem to stem they used to make provision by depressing their own bows as deep as possible in the water, so that while the enemy’s ram struck them high above the water-line, the Rhodian teeth holed the other ship well below the water. After the impact was over and the two ships fell apart the enemy was in a sinking condition, whereas the Rhodian could, by removing his ballast and some of his men aft, elevate his bows well above the water-line. But just as was discovered in modern ironclads fitted with rams, it was found that the rammer163 often came off as grievously as the rammed. At the battle of Chios in 201 B.C. one galley left her ram in the enemy’s ship, promptly164 filled and sank. At the battle of Myonnesos in 190 B.C., when a Rhodian ship was ramming an enemy the anchor of the former caught in the latter.53 The Rhodian ship endeavoured to go astern to clear herself, but as she did so the cable got foul165 of her oars so that she was incapacitated and captured. During this same battle the Rhodians affixed braziers of fire which hung over the bows. In trying to avoid these, the Syrian ships exposed their broadsides to the Rhodian rams, so that it became a choice of two evils.
The Rhodians were fine, able seamen, and well they needed to be. But even with the smart handling of their fast little craft they had all their work cut out to keep off the embarrassing attentions of the Cretan pirates during the second century B.C. On the biggest of their galleys the Rhodians erected deckhouses with portholes for their powerful catapults and archers166. The custom of employing fireships, which remained in vogue for many centuries down to the time of the Armada and after, was already being employed by about the year 300 B.C. The Rhodians, too, had their proper organisation167 in naval matters as distinct from any desultory168 measures. In the port of Rhodes they had their dockyards, which were kept up at a great cost. And there is something curiously modern in the stringent169 regulations kept for preserving the dockyard secrets. Any unauthorised person who intruded170 into certain parts thereof was punished with death. And this strict rule was not peculiar171 to Rhodes, but obtained at Carthage and elsewhere. In order to protect their harbours against the assaults of the enemy, booms were laid across the entrances, and engines were mounted on merchant ships moored172 near the harbour-mouth.
The Rhodians were great shipbuilders, and in their sheds was kept many a craft ready to put to sea. But as Britain to-day builds warships for nations other than herself, so it was with Rhodes, and to this end54 she used to have brought to her immense quantities of timber, iron, lead, pitch, tar, resin173, hemp, hair (for caulking), and sailcloth. Even human hair was employed in the service of the ship, and at the time of need the ladies of Rhodes, Carthage, and Massilia cut off their tresses and yielded it up for the making of ropes. The Rhodian squadrons were usually of three ships or multiples of three, and every year a squadron went forth for its sea experiences. The trieres, which carried as many as two hundred men, each voyaged as far as the Atlantic. Fine swimmers, fine seamen, their sea prowess was the cause of the greatest admiration174 on the part of the Greeks. “It was a proverb,” says Mr. Torr in his “Rhodes in Ancient Times,”12 “that ten Rhodians were worth ten ships,” and we must attribute their natural instinct and acquired skill for marine matters to that fortunate accident of being an island nation—a circumstance which has always, in all parts of the globe, meant so much to the progress and independence of a nation. Furthermore, the port of Rhodes was an important point on the line of commerce, and this fact also must be taken into account in reckoning up the influences at work for encouraging the marine arts, especially in inculcating an interest and admiration for the things of the sea. For those great merchant ships which used to sail to Egypt and come back to Greece laden175 with corn were accustomed to make Rhodes their port of call, and we cannot doubt that the sojourn176 of these big vessels with their impressive bulk and remarkable177 spars would make a powerful appeal to the imagination of the local sailormen and shipwrights178 always on the look-out for new ideas. Then, too, they had their own overseas trade, for large quantities of wine were exported from Rhodes to both Egypt and Sicily. Even by the third century B.C. the Rhodians55 were strong both as a naval and commercial nation. Their maritime179 laws were so excellent that they were afterwards adopted by Rome, and even to-day much of the world’s best sea law can be traced back to the people of that Mediterranean island.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
vessels
|
|
| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
scudded
|
|
| v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
naval
|
|
| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
oar
|
|
| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
steering
|
|
| n.操舵装置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
modifications
|
|
| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
pegs
|
|
| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
ram
|
|
| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
hull
|
|
| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ribs
|
|
| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
plank
|
|
| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
warships
|
|
| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
warship
|
|
| n.军舰，战舰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
ramming
|
|
| n.打结炉底v.夯实（土等）( ram的现在分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
incurred
|
|
| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
disastrous
|
|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
anatomy
|
|
| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
plural
|
|
| n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
braces
|
|
| n.吊带，背带；托架( brace的名词复数 )；箍子；括弧；（儿童）牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
counteract
|
|
| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
shipwright
|
|
| n.造船工人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
friction
|
|
| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
scouts
|
|
| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
primitive
|
|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
tar
|
|
| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
sheathed
|
|
| adj.雕塑像下半身包在鞘中的；覆盖的；铠装的；装鞘了的v.将（刀、剑等）插入鞘( sheathe的过去式和过去分词 )；包，覆盖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
papyrus
|
|
| n.古以纸草制成之纸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
hyena
|
|
| n.土狼，鬣狗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
hemp
|
|
| n.大麻；纤维 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
monarch
|
|
| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
inscriptions
|
|
| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
derived
|
|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
penetrating
|
|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
prop
|
|
| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
credence
|
|
| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
vertical
|
|
| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
treadmill
|
|
| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
cisterns
|
|
| n.蓄水池，储水箱( cistern的名词复数 )；地下储水池 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
exquisitely
|
|
| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
poetic
|
|
| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
fretted
|
|
| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
gusty
|
|
| adj.起大风的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
exhortation
|
|
| n.劝告，规劝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
hawsers
|
|
| n.（供系船或下锚用的）缆索，锚链( hawser的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
58
mariner
|
|
| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
marine
|
|
| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
mattress
|
|
| n.床垫，床褥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
awnings
|
|
| 篷帐布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
alder
|
|
| n.赤杨树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
props
|
|
| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
hoops
|
|
| n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
thwart
|
|
| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
thwarts
|
|
| 阻挠( thwart的第三人称单数 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
odyssey
|
|
| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
butting
|
|
| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
affixed
|
|
| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
galley
|
|
| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
applied
|
|
| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
hitched
|
|
| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
boulder
|
|
| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
tack
|
|
| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
draught
|
|
| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
galleys
|
|
| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
Vogue
|
|
| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
supersede
|
|
| v.替代；充任 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
divergence
|
|
| n.分歧，岔开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
prevailing
|
|
| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
plausible
|
|
| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
interpretation
|
|
| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
oblique
|
|
| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
pictorial
|
|
| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
banish
|
|
| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
exertion
|
|
| n.尽力，努力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
flute
|
|
| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
unearthed
|
|
| 出土的（考古） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
inventories
|
|
| n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
slinging
|
|
| 抛( sling的现在分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
secondly
|
|
| adv.第二，其次 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
pivot
|
|
| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
rams
|
|
| n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
alluded
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
prow
|
|
| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
complement
|
|
| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
legitimate
|
|
| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
rivalry
|
|
| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
commemorates
|
|
| n.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的名词复数 )v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
retinue
|
|
| n.侍从；随员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
barge
|
|
| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
bower
|
|
| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
cork
|
|
| n.软木，软木塞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
buoying
|
|
| v.使浮起( buoy的现在分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
invaluable
|
|
| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
leeward
|
|
| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
apex
|
|
| n.顶点，最高点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
braced
|
|
| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
dreading
|
|
| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
trophy
|
|
| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
rumour
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
hulls
|
|
| 船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
cedar
|
|
| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
cypress
|
|
| n.柏树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
caulking
|
|
| n.堵缝；敛缝；捻缝；压紧v.堵（船的）缝( caulk的现在分词 )；泥…的缝；填塞；使不漏水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
scant
|
|
| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
slabs
|
|
| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
beak
|
|
| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
swoop
|
|
| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
technically
|
|
| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
landmarks
|
|
| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
protruding
|
|
| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
rendering
|
|
| n.表现，描写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
depicted
|
|
| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
vehemently
|
|
| adv. 热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
rammed
|
|
| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
lengthen
|
|
| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
hogging
|
|
| n.弯[翘]曲，挠度，扭曲；拱曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
dispensed
|
|
| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
embroidered
|
|
| adj．绣花的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
frescoes
|
|
| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
mosaics
|
|
| n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
rammer
|
|
| n.撞锤；夯土机；拨弹机；夯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
foul
|
|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
archers
|
|
| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
organisation
|
|
| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
desultory
|
|
| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
stringent
|
|
| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
intruded
|
|
| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
moored
|
|
| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
resin
|
|
| n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
sojourn
|
|
| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
shipwrights
|
|
| n.造船者，修船者( shipwright的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
179
maritime
|
|
| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |