The galleys were very narrow, only 15½ feet in beam.[9] But to give room for the play of the oars and the passage of the fighting-men, &c., this width was largely augmented by an _opera-morta_, or outrigger deck, projecting much beyond the ship’s sides and supported by timber brackets.[10] I do not find it stated how great this projection was in the mediæval galleys, but in those of the 17th century it was _on each side_ as much as ²⁄₉ths of the true beam. And if it was as great in the 13th-century galleys the total width between the false gunnels would be about 22¼ feet. In the centre line of the deck ran, the whole length of the vessel, a raised gangway called the _corsia_, for passage clear of the oars. The benches were arranged as in this diagram. The part of the bench next the gunnel was at right angles to it, but the other two-thirds of the bench were thrown forward obliquely. _a_, _b_, _c_, indicate the position of the three rowers. The shortest oar _a_ was called _Terlicchio_, the middle one _b Posticcio_, the long oar _c Piamero_.[11] I do not find any information as to how the oars worked on the gunnels. The Siena fresco (see p. _35_) appears to show them attached by loops and pins, which is the usual practice in boats of the Mediterranean now. In the cut from D. Tintoretto (p. _37_) the groups of oars protrude through regular ports in the bulwarks, but this probably represents the use of a later day. In any case the oars of each bench must have worked in very close proximity. Sanudo states the length of the galleys of his time (1300–1320) as 117 feet. This was doubtless length of _keel_, for that is specified (“_da ruoda a ruoda_”) in other Venetian measurements, but the whole oar space could scarcely have been so much, and with twenty-eight benches to a side there could not have been more than 4 feet gunnel-space to each bench. And as one of the objects of the grouping of the oars was to allow room between the benches for the action of cross-bowmen, &c., it is plain that the rowlock space for the three oars must have been very much compressed.[12] [Illustration: Galley-Fight, from a Mediæval Fresco at Siena. (See p. _36_.)] The rowers were divided into three classes, with graduated pay. The highest class, who pulled the poop or stroke oars, were called _Portolati_; those at the bow, called _Prodieri_, formed the second class.[13]