[SunkenCiv]

Thanks go to my Delphi pal TexasRed for pointing out that NYT article. Robert Ballard's old professor, Willard Bascom, suggested looking for ancient wrecks in the areas of known sea battles, like Actium (Octavian / Antony). I'd also add that the giant grain haulers Rome used probably went down (full or empty) and should be fairly easy to find, as their usual routes are pretty well known (such as the straits of Messina).

The Ancient Mariners
by Lionel Casson

Antigonus [the One-Eyed] wanted a fleet, not of triremes like the Athenian, but of the newer quadriremes and quinqeremes which, having proved their worth in the navy of Dionysius of Syracuse at the beginning of the century, were gradually making their way into eastern navies. Demetrius' ideas were even more grandiose: if quadriremes and quinqueremes, that is, "fours" and "fives," could be built, why not larger still? Under his watchful eye, in 315 BC, the Phoenician shipyards turned out some "sixes" and "sevens' for him. By 301 he had "eights," "nines," "tens," an "eleven," and even one great "thirteen". A dozen years later he added a "fifteen" and a "sixteen." ...when the Romans conquered Macedon in 168 they found the old ship there; it was no longer of any use in battle but they sailed it home, rowed it up the Tiber, and moored it at one of the city docks as a trophy. [pp 129-130]

Casson writes that this arms race continued, eventually resulting in a "forty" -- 400 feet long, 50 wide, 70 high, manned by 4000 rowers, 400 deckhands, and 2850 marines. It never saw action.

[U S Army EOD]

Can you just imagine what it smelled like?

[ApplegateRanch]

That "forty" sounds like a worse problem than the centipede's.

Unless the "forty" refers to some other designation that doesn't require rowers' benches in the rigging!

4,000 rowers sounds more like banks of forty oars, rather than forty banks.

2,000 per side, divide by 40 = 50, to be divided by the number of banks, minus X reserve rowers.

Maybe 2 sets of oarsmen, giving 5 banks of forty 5-man oars? That still sounds unwieldy,and makes for a loooong sweep for the inside-end oarsman. Could he even run back & forth fast enough to keep the stroke???

Any other thoughts on what exactly the "forty" be be designating?