in regard to them, and no indication of their capacity beyond the incidental statement that two of the galleys, which on his return got adrift, carried altogether three hundred men.
The number of men constituting a legion varied very much during the different periods of Roman history, and, in Cæsar's time, amounted to about five thousand two hundred and eighty men, all told; but as Cæsar obviously took with him as few troops as possible, intending his first descent upon England to be rather a visit of observation than a conquest, it is likely that the whole number of his force did not exceed what we have stated, making for each of the eighty galleys a complement of somewhere about one hundred men.
Size of his transports. At present about three hundred passengers can be accommodated in a sailing vessel of one thousand tons register on a distant voyage; but, in coasting vessels, the number is very much greater.[1] It may therefore be assumed that the average size of the vessels in which Cæsar embarked his legions on this occasion was not more than one hundred tons register. The horse transports[2] may have been somewhat larger, as more than thirty-three horses, with their
- ↑ By the Passengers Act, which applies to all British possessions, except India and Hong Kong, the space allowed in passenger ships to each statute adult is not to be less than 15 clear superficial feet in the poop or in the upper passenger-deck, nor less than 18 clear superficial feet on the lower passenger-deck; and the height between decks is not to be less than 6 feet for the upper passenger-deck, nor less than 7 feet for the lower passenger-deck. Each person of twelve years and upwards, and two children between one and twelve years, count as an adult. By the 16 and 17 Vict. cap. 84, however, the governors of colonies may, by proclamation, reduce this space to 12 superficial feet in the case of passengers, being natives of Asia and Africa, sailing from their governments.
- ↑ Cæs. B. G. iv. 32, 33.
