The merchantmen differed considerably both in form and general arrangements from the war-galleys. As in our own ships of burden, under the old system of admeasurement, the hull instead of sinking down sharp towards the keel, bellied outwards at the sides, so as to render the bottom almost flat. They were very much shorter, moreover, in proportion to their height than ships of the line,[1676] which, from their slender elongated figure, obtained the appellation of long galleys. In trading vessels,[1677] much greater stress was laid on sails than on oars, since the crews could never be sufficiently numerous to furnish constantly fresh relays of rowers; and, in their protracted voyages, it would have been impossible for the same men to remain perpetually on the benches. The masts consequently were here of very great height, equalling, according to rule, the length of the ship, which rendered it practicable to crowd an immense quantity of canvass, but at the same time rendered them liable to capsize in a heavy gale, as is still the case with the Levant-built ships, which are generally much taller rigged than ours. They commonly gave a greater length to the hull of transports, though not altogether so great as to ships of war. Pirate luggers were always built without decks,[1678] and extremely low that they might be the better able to approach their prey unperceived. Their sloops, smacks, and lighters,[1679] together with all the other small craft employed in the coasting trade, exhibited every variety of form, but appear to have been generally stout-built and well-appointed. ----- Footnote 1676: Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1363. Footnote 1677: One of these vessels, when built for speed, would, with a fair wind, make a hundred and fifty miles in the twenty-four hours. Herod. iv. 86. Footnote 1678: Thucyd. i. 10. Schol. t. v. p. 311. Footnote 1679: Much of the coasting trade of the Mediterranean is still carried on in extremely small barks or open boats. See Spallanzani, Travels in the Two Sicilies, iii. 122, sqq. In the Adriatic, however, the necessity has at length been felt of employing vessels of a broad and flat construction, and extremely solid, to resist the violence of the storms so frequent in that sea, id. iv. 200. -----