WARSHIPS, Ancient. The first warships of recorded history were the great rowboats of the Mediterranean, with two and three oar decks, where galley-slaves were chained to their tasks. These vessels were far superior to sail ing craft for fighting purposes, as they could force their way at any time, whereas the sailing ships had to wait for the wind. The fighting naval weapons of those days were bows and arrows, javelins. and spears and burning balls flung. at the enemy to destroy their ships. It was important to protect the rowers of galley slaves as well as the fighting men and hence some sort of protective armor, was sought from the earliest times. The ships of the •Greeks and Romans were often fortified with a thick fence of hides which served to repel the missiles of their enemies and afforded protection to their own crews. Thick timbers and hides entered jilt° the construction of the turrets and towers with which the fighting ships of ancient and medimval times were fitted, ,especially when -used ,for har bor defense, as in the Venetian turret ship of the 9th century. Felt made an early appearance as a defensive armor on shipboard and in a sea fight off Palermo in 1071, between the Nor mans and Saracens, the former hung their galleys with this material by way of a defensive cuirass. The Norman Icnights had probably adopted this device from their enemies, for felt had been used for some time for this purpose on board the huge (dromonsB of the Saracens. These, the battleships of those days in the Mediterranean, usually rowed 50 oars a side, each oar being manned by two men, so that the size of the ships was evidently large. VVhen the soldiers, sail trimmers and artificers who worked the war engines and siphons for Greek fire are added, it is evident that the crew must have been very large and have required a ship of considerable dimensions. These great war ships were armored with woolen cloth soaked in vinegar to render it fireproof and htmg with mantlets of red and yellow. felt, so that their cuirass was not only useful, ibut ornamental as well. At this period and for many hundreds of years later additional 'protection was af forded to those on deck by the ranging of the bucklers and shields of the warriors ott board along the gunwales. Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, special gpavesades* or bulwarics, were provided in lieu, composed of large oblong shields, supplied for the purpose. In addition
to feh, the time-honored leather armor also entered into the defensive panoply of the Adromons* and in the war of the Sicilian Ves pers, Pedro III of Aragon covered two of the largest ships of his fleet with leather before sending it against Charles of Anjou. Conrad of Montferrat, at the siege of Tyre in 1187, either invented, or at all events, caused a spe cial class of leatlier-protected vessels to be built, which were called barboats or duckbacks. They would now probably be called turtle tacks. They would appear to have been small eraft covered with a strong leather-protected domed roof through portholes or opening.s in which the archers and crossbowmen could fire without *exposing- themselves. They proved very effective against the Saracens and in 1218 the entrance of the Nile was forced by 70 of these little armorclads.
It is said that the Great Dromon —whose capture by Richard Lion-Heart is still com memorated—was equipped with leaden armor. This was in 1191 and probably lead was occa sionally used for protective purposes through out the next two or three centuries, although there is no record of any ship so protected until 1530. In this year the Knights of Saint John, those sworn opponents of the Turk, built one or perhaps two leadclads. At any rate, one account says that they built such a ship in this year at Malta, while another describes a ship of this kind called the Santa Anna, launched at Nice in the same year. The Santa Anna's leaden armor plates were attached to her sides by bolts of brass and it was said for her that she could ((resist the artillery of a whole army" and at the same time could sail or row as fast as any of her unarmored contemporaries. She was a big ship, with six decks, a reception sa loon, a chapel, a specially constructed powder magazine and a bakery. She was present at the taking of Tunis in 1535 and played an important part in its capture. Lead was not infrequently used at 'this period for sheathing ships under water, in the same way that copper is still found so useful. Thus the French ship Grande Franeoise, launched in 1527, one of the largest and most famous ships of }ILI. day, was sheathed with lead from her keel to the first wale above her waterline.