Now, while there can be no doubt that all vessels had their ports placed obliquely in cases where there were more than one tier of oars; that there were vessels of five tiers of oars thus placed and no more, and that the Grecian trireme had one hundred and fifty rowers, and the Persian two hundred, it is clear from the descriptions of ancient authors that there were many triremes of much smaller dimensions, especially from the facility with which they were hauled upon the beach: while there were others carrying even more men than the galleys he refers to.[399] But presuming Mr. Howell to be correct in his supposition, that a trireme derived her name from “having three rows of five tiers and no more,” as he illustrates, then a bireme would derive her name because she had only two rows of five tiers, thus:— [Illustration] No practical man, however, could entertain the idea that ten oars, arranged as he suggests, would be as efficient as a similar number in single lines or even in double tiers; nor would a galley of this size be nearly so efficient as she would be with her ports in a horizontal line, for she would be much too high in proportion to her length. Similar remarks apply with nearly equal force in the case of triremes. [Sidenote: Triremes.] The perusal of ancient authors, as well as experience, leads to the conviction that galleys, from the unireme to the quinquereme inclusive, had their oars arranged not merely in oblique vertical rows, but also in horizontal rows according to circumstances. Besides, the plan illustrated on the sculpture from Nineveh is much more practicable than the one suggested by the theory of Mr. Howell. A galley with only ten oars on a side would be more efficient if they were placed as follows:— [Illustration] than if arranged in the manner suggested by Mr. Howell. Nor would they occupy more space, the saving of which evidently induced the ancients to increase the number of tiers. [Sidenote: Quadriremes.] [Sidenote: Hexiremes and larger galleys.] As the galleys of the ancients must have varied very much in their capacity and dimensions, it would be more reasonable to suppose that, from the unireme to the quinquereme inclusive, they derived their names from the number of oars placed horizontally over each other, rather than from the number of oblique rows as suggested by Mr. Howell. That is to say, though a trireme bore that name because she had three tiers of oars placed thus:— [Illustration] she was, nevertheless, still a trireme, if she had four, five, ten, or even twenty oblique rows of oar-ports, only she would be a trireme of a larger size, just as we have or had frigates—single-decked vessels, which have varied in size from 600 to 6,000 tons. A trireme might therefore be a much more powerful vessel than a quadrireme or quinquereme. On a similar principle, a quadrireme would have four horizontal tiers of oars, as follows:— [Illustration]