Galley

Galley. A long ship with a single deck, propelled either with oars or sails. The galley was the form of ship universally used in ancient times, and representations of it are often found on basreliefs, &c. The galley survived in Southern Europe until the eighteenth century, but is obsolete now. It occurs as a charge in heraldry under the name lymphad.

A naval vessel of large size, long and narrow, usually propelled by oars, with the addition of sails occasionally. Most of the ships employed by the ancients may be termed galleys, and, according to the number of banks of rowers, were biremes when with two banks, triremes when with three, and so on, up to as many as forty; but those with more than four or five banks must be regarded as curiosities. Galleys were in use in the Mediterranean until the close of the eighteenth century, for coast navigation, the largest of which were about 160 feet long and 30 wide, with 52 oars. Among the Venetiana there was in use a kind of large galley, with a very lofty poop, called galeazza. The state galley of the Doges was termed BUCENTAUR.

Galley, large seagoing vessel propelled primarily by oars. The Egyptians, Cretans, and other ancient peoples used sail-equipped galleys for both war and commerce. The Phoenicians were apparently the first to introduce the bireme (about 700 BC), which had two banks of oars staggered on either side of the vessel, with the upper bank situated above the lower so as to permit the oars of the upper bank to clear the oars below. The addition of an outrigger permitted the employment of a third bank of oars, the rowers of which sat above and outside the other two; such a ship, which was called a trireme, was probably first constructed about 500 BC by the Greeks. References to even more banks (for example, the quinquireme) are believed to indicate a ship of very large size but with no more than two or three banks of oars.