Part 18

The system, too, of rowing with outriggers, which has lately been adopted in the boat-races on the Tyne, and thence in those of the Thames and Cam, suggests another mode by which sufficient sweep and space might have been gained for the oars of the upper tier, to keep them from clashing with those below them.

A galley thus manned, and built exclusively for speed, (for the war-ships seldom or never pushed across the open sea, but coasted along from point to point, landing their crews for meals and sleep,) must have moved with immense velocity and power. The boat-races at Cambridge, in which six or seven-and-twenty eight-oared boats may be seen contending close together, can give some faint idea of the speed with which a squadron of the old triremes must have rushed through the sea, and of the noise and wave which must have been raised in the water, by the displacing transit of such large and rapid bodies, and by the simultaneous lashing of so many thousand oars. One can understand the alarm with which their charge must have been watched by unpractised antagonists, and the shrinking back frequently caused, φοβω ῥοθιου και νεων δεινοτητος.[16] Steady bravery and alertness were therefore, essential qualities in the whole crew. For, if but a few of the oarsmen got frightened, and consequently pulled out of time, or if they failed to back water, to ease off, or to give all the way they could, exactly at the word of command, the calculated speed, or curve, or check, on the faith of which a manœuvre was attempted by the captain and steerer, would not be supplied; the manœuvre would fail; and the galley, instead of taking an antagonist at advantage, would herself lie at the mercy of some other of the enemy's ships that might be near enough to seize the moment of her confusion. Accordingly, besides assiduously training their men to the use of the oar in rough as well as smooth water, the Athenian admirals inculcated as a seaman's prime duties order and silence in action, (Εν τω εργω κοσμον και σιγην περι πλειστου ἡγεισθε.)[17] To be steady and patient in the presence of the enemy until the signal for engaging was given; to listen attentively for the word of command as passed on by the boatswains (κελευϛαι) to the various banks of oars; to, obey each command instantly, unhesitatingly, and quietly; to keep time, to back promptly, and, in charging, to throw the utmost amount of physical power into each stroke of the oar, were the qualities that distinguished the able Athenian seaman. Impatience, clamour, clumsy and uneven rowing, slowness and confusion in catching and obeying signals, and flurried unsteadiness in the heat of battle, betrayed the inexperience of the crews with which the Peloponnesians manned their fleets in the early years of their great war with Athens; though probably each Dorian among them was constitutionally as brave as any Athenian, and might have excelled him in an encounter with spear and shield on land.

[16] Thucyd., iv. 10.

[17] Speech of Phormio to his crews before the second battle in the Gulf.--Thucyd. ii. 89.

However skilfully the triremes might be manœuvred, it was impossible to prevent their sometimes getting foul of their adversaries. And, for the hand-to-hand fighting which this involved, a small body of fully armed soldiers (Επιβαται, or Marines, according to our modern term) served on board each galley. There were also a few bowmen or slingers for galling the enemy as opportunity offered. And although the oarsmen must, of course, have been unencumbered with armour, each seems to have been furnished with some light weapons, a cutlass probably and javelin, to play his part with in the exigencies which continually occurred during an action at sea. For we must bear in mind that, when we read of the ancient galleys running each other down in action, we are not to suppose that the struck galley was instantly sunk by the shock. On the contrary, almost every account in the classics of a sea-fight proves that this was seldom or never the case. From the peculiarly light build of the triremes, and probably also from the effect of the lateral galleries in which the upper rowers were disposed, one of these vessels would be a long time before it foundered, even after receiving such a shock as to water-log it, and to leave it shattered and perfectly unmanageable. While the wreck thus kept above water, the crew clung to it in the hope of being rescued by successful friends. Sometimes, even after thus being run down, the crew would make a desperate effort, and carry their apparently triumphant opponent by boarding. A memorable instance of this is recorded by Herodotus as having occurred at the battle of Salamis, where a Samothracian galley in the Persian service was charged and run down by an Æginetan; "but the Samothracians, being javelin-men, sent a shower of darts at the marines who assailed them from the ship which had run them down, cleared her deck, and boarded and took possession of her."[18]

[18] Herod., _Urania_, 90.

A mere successful charge, therefore, against an enemy's galley did not necessarily determine the fate of her crew; a flight or two of javelins and arrows were probably thrown in, especially if any resistance was shown, and then the victorious vessel generally moved of in search of fresh opponents until the event of the day was finally decided. The conquerors then had the easy task of rowing up and down among the half-swamped prizes, killing or taking off the men as prisoners, and towing the wrecks away in triumph, to be patched up or not for service, according to the extent of their respective damages.

The ascendancy is obvious, which skill and discipline must have exercised in such contests over equal courage and superior numbers. Often as this was displayed, the first victory of Phormio in the Corinthian gulf in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, as narrated by Thucydides, is one of the most splendid instances of it that history supplies. The Corinthians and other confederates of Sparta had prepared an armament of forty-seven galleys and a large number of transports on the Achaian side of the gulf, for the purpose of effecting a descent on the opposite coast of Acarnania, a country then in alliance with Athens. Phormio, the Athenian admiral who commanded in those seas, had only twenty galleys, with which he watched their movements from Chalcis and the river Evenus on the Ætolian coast. The Peloponnesians, notwithstanding their superiority in numbers, sought to avoid an action, and endeavoured to push across the gulf in the night. But the Athenians were too vigilant, and came up with them in the middle of the passage just about day-break. The gulf is of considerable width in the part where the rival fleets encountered, though immediately to the eastward it narrows into a mere strait between the two opposite capes, each of which the Greeks called the Promontory of Rhion. Thus intercepted, and forced to fight, the Peloponnesian commanders drew up their fleet in a way which they hoped would neutralise the superior skill and swiftness of the Athenian galleys. The great object in a sea-fight was to charge an opponent amidships, or on the stern, or on some defenceless part. Of course, as long as the enemy kept their line with the bows opposed to all their assailants, this was impossible. The favourite manœuvre then was cutting the line, (Διεκπλους.) The assailing galley dashed rapidly between two of her adversaries; and then, smartly wheeling round, sought to charge one of them in rear, or on the quarter while turning. To prevent this, various tactics were adopted. Sometimes, for instance, the assailed fleet was drawn up in two or more lines of squadrons placed checker-wise behind each other. On the present occasion, the Peloponnesians formed in a circle, placing the transports and a picked squadron of five of their best war-ships in the middle, and with the rest of their galleys ranged outside, with their sterns toward the centre, so as to present all round a front of armed beaks to the enemy, and make a flank or rear attack impossible. But as our Nelson dealt with Villeneuve, so Phormio dealt with them. A novel mode of defence was overpowered by a novel mode of attack. The Athenian admiral formed his line-of-battle ahead, and rowed round them, continually threatening to charge, and cooping them into a narrower and narrower space, but having strictly enjoined his captains not to begin the engagement till he gave the signal. For he reckoned on the Peloponnesian galleys soon getting unsteady in their stations, and running foul of each other, so as to give, a favourable opportunity for charging them. And he also waited for the springing up of the east wind, which commonly blew out of the straits about sunrise; feeling sure that the enemy would never keep their array perfect in rough water. Even as he had anticipated, so fared it with the Peloponnesians. The wind came down upon them, and caught them (το πνευμα κατηει.) Their ships, already closely packed, fell foul of each other. The crews had to fend off, and mutual abuse and shouting confused the fleet, and drowned the officers' commands. The unpractised rowers also, as the water grew rougher, when they gave a stroke, could not clear their oars from the waves; (τας κωπας αδυνατοι οντες εν κλυδωνιω αναφερειν,) a difficulty which any one will appreciate, who learned to row on a river, and who remembers how many crabs he caught, when he afterwards first tried to pull a sea-oar in a fresh breeze. The helmsmen thus had no sufficient steerage-way on their ships; and any attempt at manœuvring became hopeless. When they were completely disordered, Phormio gave the signal to his captains, and the Athenian galleys, dashing forward, gained an easy victory, capturing twelve ships, one of which they dedicated to Poseidon.

This battle is the subject of the following lines, which are intended to be taken as composed by one of the Athenians who served on board Phormio's galley. The metre is the splendid measure invented by Mr Mitchell for the rendering of the Aristophanic Tetrameter Anapest.

PHORMIO'S VICTORY IN THE CORINTHIAN GULF.

Twas when our galleys lay along the winding bay, Where Evenus with ocean is blended, To watch the Dorian host, that 'gainst Acarnania's coast At the mandate of Sparta descended.

In long and threatening line, at the margin of the brine, Stretched the squadrons of proud Lacedæmon; Our prows were but a score, yet we cooped them to the shore, Oh they shrank from the clash with our seamen!

Not in the good daylight, not in fair and open fight, Came over the boasting invaders; But like thieves they sought to glide, to their booty o'er the tide, With darkness and silence for aiders.

All voiceless was the deep; the winds had sunk to sleep; The veil of the night earth was wearing; But the stars had pined away; and the streaks of eastern gray Told the morn was her chariot preparing.

A plash of distant oars as from th' Achaian shores On our sentinel's ear faintly sounded; Our watch was keen, and true, we were Phormio's chosen crew; To his oar at the signal each bounded.

The warning cry speeds fast, "the foe, they come at last;" Oh little they deem what will meet them; Right soon equipped are we, and we push at once to sea, On the mid-wave to baffle and beat them.

Now through the glimmering haze we strain our eager gaze;-- A dark mass on the dark water rises;-- 'Tis a galley;--'tis their fleet--how our joyous bosoms beat, As the dawning revealed us our prizes!

Two score and seven prows were the squadrons of our foes, There was sea-room and space for the meeting; Yet they moved not to attack, but in troubled ring hung back From the strife, whence was now no retreating.

Swift, swift, we glanced around them, and in closer circle bound them: Still threat'ning the charge, still delaying: For Phormio curbed our zeal, till the roughened main should feel The breath of the east o'er it playing.

Blow, blow, thou Morning wind--why lingerest thou behind? On high while the Day-god is soaring? Come forth, and bid the Deep from the level slumber leap, Its billows in majesty pouring.

Let the landsmen dread their swell--the mariner loves well The laugh and the toss of the ocean; Long time the gale and we have been comrades o'er the sea; 'Tis our helpmate in battle's commotion.

The shudder of the seas tells the coming of the breeze; The ripples are glittering brightly; Soon the purple billows grow, and their crests of foam they show, As the freshening blast curls them lightly.

Swell higher, lusty gale--the Dorian crews are pale, Their oars in the vexed surges drooping; While our circling galleys halt, and veer round for the assault, For the death-stroke each mariner stooping.

With heads bent forward low, with oars thrown back in row, Trembling over the edge of the water, With breathless gaze we watch from our captain's lip to catch The word for the charge and the slaughter.

'Tis given--the oars dip--with a light half-stroke the ship Glides off--the waves hiss in twain riven-- The trumpet clamours high; and our short sharp battle-cry, As we strain every nerve, rings to heaven.

The oar tingles as we grasp it, like a limb of those who clasp it: Lithe and light through the white froth it flashes; And pulsating with life, savage, active for the strife, At her quarry the war-galley dashes.

On, mariners, pull on--one glancing thought alone Of the homes and the loves that we cherish; For we know, from rush like this, as our prow may strike or miss, Ourselves or the foemen must perish.

But our helmsman's skill is tried our armèd beak to guide, Where their quarter lies helpless before us; And the thrilling, jarring crash, and the music of the smash Tell our rowers that fortune smiles o'er us.

Look round upon the wreck,--mark the haughty Dorians' deck, How they reel in their armour along it: While our bow-men ply each string; and each javelin's on the wing, Wafting death mid the braggarts that throng it.

Look where our gallant prow struck deep the deadly blow, Shattered oars, mangled oars-men are lying: The rent and started side sucks in the swamping tide, And the surge drowns the groans of the dying.

The reddening ocean-flood drinks deep their hated blood,-- It shall stream yet in richer libations: We'll repeat the lesson stern--Lacedæmon well shall learn That the sea mocks her rule o'er the nations.

"Steady, steady now, my men--back her gently off again-- Give your helmsman free scope and dominion"-- We recoil for fresh attack, as a hawk may hover back, Ere it swoop in the pride of its pinion.

Another charge,--another blow,--another crippled foe,-- 'Tis Athenè herself that is guiding. As, huddled in a flock, deer shrink back from the shock Of the hunters that round them are riding,

So, disordered and dismayed, with ranks all disarrayed, Their fleet crowds together in ruin; While our galleys dashing in, with a loud and joyous din, Their mission of death are pursuing.

See, again their oars are out--again a feeble shout Rises up from their admiral-galley; They come forth--'tis not to fight--they only push for flight-- One has burst through our line in the sally.

She's their best--she must not 'scape--cut her off from Rhion's cape-- Let not Dorians for speed triumph o'er us-- Our nearest consort views her,--the [19]Paralus pursues her-- Pull on--none must strike her before us.

"Quick, quicker on the feather--come forward well together-- Carry Phormio first in his glory"-- Each nerved him as he spoke, and we dash with stouter stroke Through the waves carcase-cumbered and gory.

Oh! swiftly goes the prize as ahead of both she flies; Oh! blithe was the contest that tried us, When we saw our comrades true, their country's favoured crew, In rivalry rowing beside us.

Their Sacred Bark apace bounds forward in the race, Like a proud steed let loose from the bridle; And we knew by the red streak on her bent and battered beak, In the fray that she had not been idle.

On the prey each galley gains, and more and more each strains In the emulous chase to the leading; As two hounds pursue the hare, and each strives for amplest share Of the conquest to which they are speeding.

Vainly struggles the spent foe. At her stern we feel our prow-- 'Gainst its point ill her helmsman is shielded: And the Paralus's sway breaks her starboard oars away. Clear her deck!--No--they crouch--they have yielded.

Tow her, then, along in triumph--haul her up on yonder shore-- There she long shall crown the headland, never stemming billow more: To the gracious God of Ocean votive offering shall she stand, Telling of the deeds of Phormio and his bold Athenian band. Sagest of his country's seamen, bravest captain of the brave;-- Every coast shall hear his glory, far as Athens rules the wave. Choral lay shall long record him. Long our battle-cry shall be, Cheering on our charging squadrons, "PHORMIO AND VICTORY."

[19] The Paralus was the name of one of the two sacred galleys, which the Athenians employed for the conveyance of despatches, and state missions; and which were always equipped and manned with the greatest care. It is not specified in Thucydides that the Paralus was one of Phormio's galleys; but from the brilliant exploits of his squadron in this and a subsequent battle, we may fairly suppose it to have been composed of the _Elite_ of the Athenian navy.

OUR CURRENCY, OUR TRADE, AND OUR TARIFF.

It is no matter of congratulation to us, that the remarks which we hazarded in July last, regarding the depressed and declining state of the internal trade of the country, and the miserable prospects which were in store for us in consequence of the mischievous operation of our restrictive monetary laws, have since been tested by experience, and have been fulfilled to the utmost letter. We then stated, that Great Britain was upon the very verge of a crisis more dangerous than any to which she had hitherto been exposed--that the evil was clearly traceable to the senseless machinery of the Banking Acts, introduced by Sir Robert Peel, and adopted by his Whig successors--and we warned the latter, that "if, during the recess, and before a new parliament shall meet, the present lamentable state of matters is to continue, no British ministry ever exposed themselves to such a frightful load of responsibility." Our sentiments with regard to the monetary laws were neither singular nor unsupported. They were in unison with those of an overwhelming majority of the press, of the heads of mercantile houses, and more especially of the bankers, who in vain had pointed out to Sir Robert Peel the imminent danger of his persevering with egotistic obstinacy in his foolish and pragmatical scheme. But our forebodings as to the future, and further depreciation of property down to the present miserable point, were, we are quite aware, considered by many as too gloomy to be by possibility realised. That month, however, which may hereafter be memorable in our history as the Black October, has, we hope, dispelled the delusion even of the few who still regarded Sir Robert Peel as the infallible minister of finance. His great juggle is now exposed; his currency engine has gone to pieces--but not before it has fulfilled its predestined task of crushing and annihilating credit.

It was, we are now free to acknowledge, a vain expectation to hope that any remedial measure could be carried in the last Parliament. That body was rapidly going down to its corporate grave, with little glory, and with no regret. It, too, was an engine, working, most unfortunately for us all, according to the will of one man, whose thoughts and ways were as secret and noiseless as the pestilence. It was pledged to support agriculture, which it abandoned; to foster native industry, which it gave up to foreign competition; to lighten the burdens of the people, which it augmented; to maintain the balance of power, which it permitted to be shifted and destroyed. Whether he was in office or not, that parliament was the plaything of Peel. At each successive move, he was the Mephistophiles who drew the string. He contrived to adjust parties with such infinite address, that what in reality was the weaker section became apparently the stronger one, and "government influence" was lavishly used to tempt the frailer brethren from their old profession. True, he lost office in consequence, but he did not on that account surrender one iota of power. The new ministry felt that they were in his hands, and that his fiat might determine at any moment the period of their political existence. There have been statesmen, even of the Whig school, who would not willingly have submitted to so poor and degrading a bondage. There have been those who would not have consented to hold office even for an hour, on the condition of their adopting implicitly the measures and the schemes of their antagonist; but we live in altered times, and free will is no longer a doctrine of the Whigs. Accordingly, the same lessons of financial wisdom, the same doctrines of political economy, which flowed from the lips of the converted Sir Robert Peel, were now pompously enunciated, though far worse expressed, by Sir Charles Wood, whom the malignant star of Britain has converted into a Chancellor of the Exchequer. The cries of the country, the warnings of the press, the representations of the merchants and bankers, were passed over with an assurance of general prosperity, and Parliament was dissolved at the moment when the active interference of the legislature was most imperatively required.

At the elections the currency was made a prominent but not a vital question. This we regret exceedingly, for there never was a time when men of strong understanding, concentrated experience, and practical knowledge, were more needed in the House of Commons; and although there have been some accessions which we regard with hope, still we could have wished that more men of decided mercantile ability had been returned. The new Parliament has very great, important, and difficult functions to perform. It has to pronounce upon the fate of a monetary system which dear-bought and late experience has proved to be radically bad; and it must provide a substitute on which the nation may in future more confidently rely. It has further to decide, whether we are to persevere in a mercantile policy, which, so far as it has gone, appears most baneful to home production, and to the prosperity of our native artisans: and it will be forced in some measure to recast and remodel the system of our national taxation. All these are matters of infinite and pressing importance: they must be handled boldly, but not rashly, and discussed with temper and forbearance. Party strife must be forgotten when the great interests of the nation are so strangely and fearfully involved. We have arrived, through experiment-making and quackery, at such a point, that the best man, be his general politics what they may, must lead us on. But we must have no more experiments, lest a worse thing should happen to befall us. In our present position it would be madness to look for aid either from the flashy declaimer and rhetorician, or from the off-hand fabricator of systems, which are based upon no solid or intelligible foundation. What we want is solidity, prudence, and, above all, principle.