“Triremes and the Battle to save Democracy.”
On Thursday the 12th of May, Francis, Nyah and Daniel all went to a talk at Lytchett Minster’s school to listen to Doug Pattison talk about the ancient Greek ramming ship known as the Trireme. It was called the Trireme because of the 3 layers of oars at either side of the warship.
Mr. Howard and Miss Stacey organised the visit and listened to the fascinating facts along with us.
These are some of the facts that we learnt:
- Out of the 200 People on the ship, 170 of those were slaves rowing mercilessly at a speed of 6-8 knots (18-24 miles per hour).
- The battles they fought were linked to the Battle of Marathon.
- There was a famous battle at Salamis where the Greeks beat the Persians (again).
- The boats were very light and good at moving in confined spaces.
- The ship was constructed from different woods which were used according to their strengths.
- There are no longer any trees tall enough (in Europe) to make these ships.
- Their main weapon was a ram which was used to poke holes in other ships, consequently meaning they could not move any more.
- The only decorations on the ship were a pair of eyes painted on the bow (front).
- We believe that this magnificent ship saved democracy by terminating the threat from the Persian fleet. If the Persians had won, the world could be a completely different place (dictatorship).
- The sweat from the top row dripped onto the decks below making it very unpleasant for these crew members.
- The vessels were made with a mortice and tenon joint construction (this is like pegs and boards).
- The Trireme trust made a model of this vessel and called it “Olympia”. They rowed it in Greece and there is some video of this.
- There are no known Trireme shipwrecks because they were very light and tended to blow onto the shore rather than sink. Local people would then use the timbers for their homes.
By
Daniel, Nyah and Average Hulk (Francis).