It was usual, in order to give both vessels and merchants the best possible chance, for ships, not strong enough separately to resist pirates, to sail together in twos and threes, or, if possible, in still larger numbers. When a large powerful ship fell in with a smaller vessel which claimed its protection, it was bound to throw it a hawser so as to fasten the two vessels together, and enable them to assist one another in case of need. A ship’s captain who refused to render this service to a smaller craft than his own, would have run the risk of a very heavy punishment. The maritime code, whose regulations were decided by the overseers, laid down that all merchandise entrusted to a ship’s captain should be properly stored away in the hold, and not left on the deck, on which the rigging, the carpenter’s and caulker’s tools, the weapon cases, and the water casks were alone to be placed. Similarly, any damage done to the cargo during the voyage, owing to bad stowage or bad ballasting, was liable to be made good by the ship-owner, who was bound to have his ship in the best possible condition, and who was held responsible for the proper preservation of the cargo. [Illustration: Fig. 88.--Discovery of the Antilles by Columbus.--From a Drawing attributed to him in the “Epistola Christofori Columbi:” undated (1494?), 8vo.] Longer voyages began to be undertaken in the fifteenth century, navigation having been rendered less dangerous by the improvements in the mariner’s compass, in the quadrant, and in other nautical instruments. Ships went as far as to the Azores, and to the Canary Islands, to the coast of Guinea, and to the East Indies; and one even touched at the new continent discovered by Columbus (Fig. 88), and named by Americus Vespazius. Certain seasons of the year, however, were considered dangerous, during which all navigation was absolutely forbidden by law. Already, in the fourth century, the magistrates entrusted with naval matters _closed_ the sea from the third day of the Ides of November to the sixteenth of the Ides of March; in the thirteenth century, the season opened in April and closed in October. In the sixteenth, no vessel could legally return to Venice from Constantinople, Alexandria, or the coast of Syria, from the 15th of November to the 20th of January. Although this regulation, which had for its object the protection of seafaring men, was often broken, there were others emanating from the same source, and issued in the same spirit, that were more binding. For instance, galleys (galleys were frequently used in commercial ventures), as soon as they were launched, underwent a minute inspection by the overseers, who, after satisfying themselves on the solidity of their construction, gauged their capacity, and marked the water line on their side, beyond which it was illegal to submerge them. [Illustration: Fig. 89.--Seal of the Town of Poole (Thirteenth Century).]