The oars used on these ships were not so large as one might think. On a trireme, or three-banked ship, the oars of the upper bank were about fourteen feet long; the next lower oars were about ten and a half feet, and the oars of the lowest bank were about seven and a half feet long. Even the topmost oars on the “tessereconteres,” or forty-banked ship, which some questionable authorities mention as having been built, are said to have been but fifty-three feet long, but as the seats of the rowers are said to have been two feet apart vertically it is difficult to see how a fifty-three foot oar, of which perhaps a third was inside the ship, could have reached to the water. But these forty-banked ships sound more like imaginary craft than like real ships. In the cataphract ships the lower deck was only about a foot above the water line. Below this deck was the ballast, and through the deck were cut a number of hatches through which buckets could be lowered in order to bail out the almost ever-present bilge water, for these ships, particularly when they were subjected to the strains coincident to sailing in a seaway, were more than likely to leak at an uncomfortably rapid rate. [Illustration: A BRITISH LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP, 1790 _This awkward ship is one of the type that made up the great fleets that fought, for instance, at Trafalgar. Nelson’s flagship, the_ Victory, _is of this type._ ] The backbone of these ships was a heavy keel, below which was fitted a false keel, used, apparently, to take the wear that resulted from hauling the ships up on to the beach. Above the keel a keelson, similar to the keelsons of to-day, was fitted, strengthening the keel and serving, also, as a strengthener to the ribs which were fastened beneath it. The bows of these ships were very strongly constructed, for battle tactics called for the use of the ram. The ram, instead of being above the water, as it was on the older Egyptian ships, was at the water level, and was strengthened by the heavy timbers which formed the stem. In order to strengthen the hull still more, and to prevent as much as possible the strain of ramming from springing the seams, strong cables were wound once or twice around the whole hull from bow to stern. These were drawn up with levers and bound the ship tightly together, particularly as the cables shrank when they were wet. All these precautions were essential, for the ram on these ships was about ten feet long, and was seconded by a somewhat shorter ram above the water line. The Athenian triremes were all about the same size—about one hundred and thirty feet long—and most of their equipment was standardized so that it was really interchangeable. The crews of these ships numbered a few more than two hundred. The rowers numbered one hundred and seventy, and there were ten or a dozen marines and about a score of seamen.