APPENDIX.

XXIX sail-yards, and thereby letting the sails fall down, disabled the light ships. Not unlike this, he adds, was another instrument, armed at the end with a broad iron head, edged on both sides, wherewith they cut the cords that made fast the rudder of the ship.

There were also engines to cast stones into the enemy’s vessels ; and another engine is mentioned by Vegetius, which hung upon the mainmast, and resembled a battering ram ; it consisted of a long beam with a head of iron, and was pushed with great violence against the sides of adverse ships. Besides these, there were grappling irons, which were cast out of an engine into the vessels of the enemy ; these are said to have been first used in Greece by Pericles the Athenian, at Rome by Duilius ; hooks of iron were also used, which were hung on the top of a pole, and being secured with chains to the masts or some other lofty part, and cast with great force into the enemy’s ship, caught it up into the air*.

The means used to defeat this extraordinary engine, were, (it is said) to cover the ships with hides, which cast off, or blunted the stroke of the iron.

With regard to the naval officers employed by the ancients, we find that in all fleets there were two superior to the rest ; one took the command of the vessels and seamen, the other of the soldiers ; but this latter had also some power over the ship-masters (as Potter calls them) and their crews.

The commission of admiral varied according to the exigency of times and circumstances, being sometimes held by one alone, sometimes in conjunction with others; as happened to Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, who were sent with equal power to command the Athenian fleet in Sicily. The period of command was also limited by the people, and shortened or prolonged as they pleased. AVe * This engine appears to have been invented by Anacharsis the Scythian, and although one somewhat similar is said to have been employed by Archimedes against the enemy’s fleet at Syracuse, it is difficult to conceive how it could be used with advantage at sea; except, perhaps, by a vessel very considerably heavier than that against which it might be employed.

Officers-