Page:Heresies of Sea Power (1906).djvu/307

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE EVOLUTION OF NAVIES
281

a flying deck protected by shields for the fighting members of the crew and finally a distinct ram bow is to be observed.

Now this warship besides marking an advance in attack and defence also marks some kind of return to the original conception of the warship as an instrument for enabling soldiers to fight each other on the water

Phœnician Warship of circa 700 B.C. From Nineveh Monuments.

as well as upon the land. The Egyptian warships of three hundred years before lack this feature to a considerable extent—defence is to be found in them in the breastwork to protect the rowers, but the offensive and military feature so conspicuous in the Phœnician warship is absent.

This type of vessel long survived, but it eventually gave way to the Athenian trireme, of which the