. I t appears from Procopius (Vandal, lib. i. c. 12), that the fleet
of Belisarius was sixteen days on its passage from Zante to Cau-
cana in Sicily. ' The distance being three hundred, and twenty
geographic miles, gives twenty such miles per day, ,or about two
hundred and fifty stadia. This must be regarded as the effect of
oars generally; there being very little wind, or almost a. continued
calm, ,
“ Diodorus (lib. v. c. 2) says, that tin was carried across in four
days from Britain to Gaul, where it was landed, and carried across
the Rhone in thirty journies. From the descriptions and the circumstances
altogether, it appears to have been embarked at St. Michael’s
Mount in Cornwall, and landed near the.other mount of the same
name in France ; perhaps at St. Maloes,
“ T his would give a rate of about forty miles per d a y : but he says
(Diodorus) that the western promontory of. Britain is four days’ sail
from the opposite continent.
“ I t is conceived (Major Rennell continues) that the slow progress
of the vessels of the ancients will b e readily adm itted ; since in
addition to so many other examples, we have the reports o f Herodotus
and Nearchus,—of the latter respecting the length of a day’s
s a il; qf the former, as to the space actually sailed through in the
course o f a day, and remarked a s an uncommon long run in those
d a y s : as also the time required to navigate the Red Sea and the
Euxine, the latter of which appears to be reported from Herodotus’s
own experience.
“ In effect none of these differ materially from the re st:—the mean
rate of all, then, being so low as thirty-seven geographic miles, we
are naturally led to inquire (continues the Major) why there should
be so great a disproportion between the sailing o f ancient and
modem s h ip s ; since a day’s sail (of four-and-twenty hours) of a
modern ship cannot be reckoned a t less than three times that o f the
ancient ones 1
“ Even the worst description of modern vessels of which we have
any knowledge seems to b e superior to the antient ones in respect
of their daily progress. And therefore we suppose that some cause
is to b e looked for, besides that of dulness of sailing.
“ T h a t this had a considerable share in thè delay is evident, by
the circumstance mentioned by Pliny (if we may depend upon the
numbers), of the Roman Ships sailing no more than about forty-four
geographical miles per day across to open sea between Arabia and
India, in which we cannot suppose them to have absolutely stopped
at night, as in their coasting voyages and in soundings.
We may reckon, a t a medium, front thirteen to fourteen hours
of daylight throughout the year in that parallel ; so that three miles
p e r hour for the daylight makes up the whole sum (bating three or
four miles), which is a very slow rate of sailing before th e brisk
monsoon that prevails in that sea, and leaves little or nothing for
the night ; and although it is possible, and even probable, that they
may have lain to during this interval, yet ten or eleven hours drift
must amount to something. Hence we shall not lay so great a stress
on this instance, being a solitary one of the kind, as on the others in
the coasting navigation. In these it appears almost certain that the
ordinary mode of sailing was confined to daylight ; for without a
compass, o r a substitute for it, great danger must have been incurred
in the night, when a small error in the angle of the course would be
fatal. Lighthouses, on pròminént parts of the coast, would doubtless
direct them ; but this could not b e a general arrangement, and must
have been confined tó particular coasts only. Notwithstanding,
sailing by night was doubtless practised occasionally, as in clear
moonlight, or a t other times whén necessity pressed, or the nature
of the shore (as a t the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates) prevented
his coming to an anchor or landing. Sailing b y night is also
implied, when Scylax admits nights as well as days in his calculation
of the distance between Carthage and the columns of Hercules ;
a navigation by no means intricate, and perhaps assisted by lighthouses
or signal fires. I t must also have been occasionally practised
in the Euxine. (Se e Note to p. 678, article 6.)
“ In effect, then (Major Rennell continues), we must suppose a rate