Their public vessels and trade in which they were employed.
The public navy of Florence, consisting originally
of only two galleys, had been now increased to eleven,
besides fifteen "Fuste," or smaller vessels.[1] Though
manned and armed as ships of war, they were principally
employed in the conveyance of merchandise to
all places beyond Rome on the one side, and Genoa on
the other, trading eastward with Constantinople, Kaffa,
Trebizond, Alexandria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Sicily;
and westward with Minorca, Majorca, Bona, and
the western coast of Barbary, as well as with
Catalonia, England, and Flanders. These voyages
were timed so as not to interfere with each other.
When there were no private bidders for the public
galleys put up to auction for hire, which seldom
happened, the voyage was made on account of the
government. The sea-consuls settled the number of the
crew and the armament of each galley, and nominated
the captain, supercargo, and other officers, none of
whom were allowed to be in any way connected
with the consuls, or to own any part of the cargo:
the consuls, too, were not permitted to share in this
trade, except when the vessels were freighted on
account of the government. The galleys bound
westward sailed in September, and those for the
Levant in February.
"On the day of sailing," remarks Napier,[2] "the various ports at which the galleys were to touch,
- ↑ Napier considers the "Fuste" to have been "a lighter species of war-galley," iv. p. 24. M. Jal gives elaborate details on the subject of the names of mediæval ships, in which he differs very much from writers who have gone before him. He, however, invariably gives the authorities on whom he relies, which other writers have too frequently omitted (see "Arch. Nav." ii. p. 3, &c.).
- ↑ Napier's "Flor. Hist." iv. p. 29.
