The galleys of the Middle Ages and of the sixteenth century, armed at first with an iron spur and afterwards with four or five cannon placed in the bows, always engaged the enemy prow first, and bore down in order of battle, side by side, in a straight or curved line. The half-moon formation practised by the ancients was reserved for the largest fleets. At Lepanto (Fig. 92), for instance, the Christian fleet was drawn up in the form of a half-moon, and was divided into four squadrons: one in the centre, two at the wings, and one in reserve. In front of each division six _galéasses_ were posted in couples to open the engagement; they were all one hundred and sixty feet in length, twenty-seven in breadth, and fifteen above the water-line, and they did a great deal of damage to the Turkish fleet with their powerful artillery. Previous to the construction of these gigantic galleys, a line of round vessels used to be placed in the van to receive the first brunt of the battle. Sometimes, besides this vanguard of sailing vessels, ships were placed at the wings, the most powerful in the quarter where it was imagined that the struggle would become the hottest. The smaller craft formed a line in reserve, always prepared to row to the assistance of a hard-pressed galley. [Illustration: Fig. 92.--Plan of the Naval Battle of Lepanto.--From a Drawing by Don Juan, preserved in the Archives of Simancas, Spain.] In the eleventh century, at the battle of Durazzo, the Venetian ships, being hard pressed by the Italo-Norman fleet of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Puglia and Calabria, and unable to make for the land owing to the dropping of the wind, ranged themselves in a line, and bound themselves together, leaving but a small interval between each ship, just sufficient to allow their smaller vessels to row out, harass the enemy, and hasten back again. This style of battle was not a new one, being the reproduction of a manœuvre invented or employed for the first time by Scipio in the days of ancient Rome. When time had developed the progress of marine artillery, a fleet composed of large ships, in giving battle to one consisting of galleys, always presented their broadsides to their antagonists, since, in this position, the fire from their double row of cannon could do the galleys the most harm. This order of battle, however, was not always observed, particularly when the guns, owing to their great weight, were placed in the prow (Fig. 93).