MEDIAEVAL SHIPS The mediaeval galley was a one, two or three banked vessel, but used longer oars or sweeps than the paddling oars of the ancient vessels. It was the increase in the length and weight of the oar, which led to the employment of more than one man to an oar. With the longer oar the necessity arose of placing the weight at a greater distance from the power applying the lever. This was gained by the re-introduction of the apostis, which was practically a framework standing out on each side of the hull and running parallel to it ; a strong external timber, in which the thowls, against which the oars were rowed, were set. By this means it became possible not only to arrange the oars horizontally, in sets of three or more of different lengths, instead of in banks one above the other obliquely, but also to apply the strength of three 'or four men (or even up to seven with the larger galleys and galleasses) for the motive power of each blade. As time went on oars of from 3o to so ft. came into vogue, the inboard portion of which was about one-third of the length, and furnished with handles attached to the loom, the men for each oar being placed in steps. As commerce increased and merchant vessels gained in size, the necessity of being able to defend themselves against piratical attacks became more and more cogent, a necessity which ultimately led the way to the super session of the galley by the sailing vessel.
The period of the Crusades was one of great activity in ship building, in which the Venetians and the Genoese were the leaders in the Mediterranean, but the enterprise of England under Richard Coeur de Lion (i189-1199) shows that in the northern seas great efforts were being made in the same direction. Richard's fleet which sailed from Dartmouth consisted of No vessels, and its total in the Mediterranean after reinforcement was 23o vessels.
The whole period of the Crusades was, as regards naval matters, one of mixed fleets, in which the sailing vessels were mostly mer chant vessels armed for fighting purposes. About this time we see the steering oar on the side of the ship gradually disappear, and the rudder slung at the stern becoming the usual means of direct ing the vessel's course. The advantage of high freeboard for longer voyages was appreciated. It was in northern waters that
the big merchantman was most rapidly developed, as the needs of the merchants outgrew the armed galleys that had been brought to a high pitch of perfection by the Venetians and Genoese, and chartered by them nearly all over Europe. In the Mediterranean many features of this type were combined with those of the galley and produced the carrack of Genoa and the galleasse. The merchant vessels when prepared for war had forecastles and stern-castles erected on them, of which the one survives in name, and the other is seen in the poop of later times.
The invention of gunpowder, and the consequent use of cannon on board ship, was the cause of many new departures in building and armaments. In the galleys we find guns mounted in the bows, and broadside on the upper deck, en barbette, firing over the bul warks. Soon, however, the need of cover suggested portholes cut for the guns, just as in the ancient galleys they had been cut for the oars. The desire to carry many guns led to many altera tions in build, such as the tumble-home of the sides, the longer voyages undertaken, coupled with the desire for speed, to many improvements in rig, as well as to an increase in the number of masts and consequently larger spread of sail. About 137o-138o French, Venetians and Spaniards were using the new artillery in action, and the policy of maintaining a navy composed of sailing vessels built for war, and not merely of armed merchant ships impressed for the emergency, soon began to take effect. There exists at Nuremberg an engraving believed to have been taken from a model of a 15th-century Flemish carrack which is remark able for its detail and technical accuracy, in spite of the *fact that considerable license must be allowed the artist. Her short fore mast and tall mainmast, both surmounted by a top, each carries a single square sail ; her stump mizen a lateen. The mizen top mounts a small gun. Her hull, with long forecastle and shorter aftercastle, is very full-lined forward and aft and is greatly strengthened externally. A stump bowsprit at a sharp angle takes the forestay and the bowlines of the foresail, and the anchor is suspended from it. Obviously at that period the Flemings built for strength rather than speed.