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Galley Slaves Gallery

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On the same note, do you prefer male or female overseers?

Personally, I prefer females both as slaves and overseers.
 
KageKamen said:
Although it would require manually chaining and unchaining each rower daily
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Since all she's got to do or can do is turn the key, to give her poor feet a rest, and she knows the consequences if she dares to mess around, the slave could be allowed to do the job herself - just unlock quick and pas the key along. And locking ourselves in might not even need a key, if it's a spring lock, we'd have to do that job ourselves too. The overseers only have to stroll along giving us the occasional whiplash when they feel so inclined.
 
Eulalia said:
Since all she's got to do or can do is turn the key, to give her poor feet a rest, and she knows the consequences if she dares to mess around, the slave could be allowed to do the job herself - just unlock quick and pas the key along. And locking ourselves in might not even need a key, if it's a spring lock, we'd have to do that job ourselves too. The overseers only have to stroll along giving us the occasional whiplash when they feel so inclined.
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Just pass the key along? Takes a fair bit of trust - not all slaves are as docile as you, my dear! - but possible.

Jones_Tims said:
On the same note, do you prefer male or female overseers?

Personally, I prefer females both as slaves and overseers.
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Well realistically men might do better, but it's the same for rowers... and in both cases, I'm fine with either.
 
KageKamen said:
Just pass the key along? Takes a fair bit of trust - not all slaves are as docile as you, my dear! - but possible.
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okay, the key's on a chain that's held by a ring on a cable that runs above our heads, the chain's just long enough to let us use it, then pass it to the pair behind, sliding it along the cable. And, like i say, if we don't do what's required - and fast - we know the consequences!
 
Eulalia said:
okay, the key's on a chain that's held by a ring on a cable that runs above our heads, the chain's just long enough to let us use it, then pass it to the pair behind, sliding it along the cable. And, like i say, if we don't do what's required - and fast - we know the consequences!
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Yes, seems like a decent refinement. Although seeing how lax some people are with password security and such, I can totally see it jusrt being passed along...
 
Okay, I have to admit that I too love the knowledge and expertise our members bring to the forum.....but I'm still leaning towards harsh punishment for Eulalia and Willowfall for being such buzzkills! Now everytime I look at a galley slave pic, I'm going to be looking for all of the technical errors.
And I NEVER thought I'd ever see a mention of the Wasa HERE!!!
 
Harsh Martinet said:
I confess...I actually joined the forum for these very discussions, to further enhance my knowledge of the world. I'd still be a member even without the dirty pics :rolleyes:
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What dirty pics? I haven't seen any
(and it's not for want of looking) :p
 
Eulalia said:
I would think a strong, healthy girl could row all day with her feet locked to the stretcher. Maybe if her ankles have irons on them, they could be released from the clamp overnight with a simple twist of a key, but they'd still be chained together and/or to the stretcher - that would allow her to move them a bit, even stand up have a stretch and a bit of exercise, and then to curl up to sleep probably on the boards, under her bench.

I wouldn't favour chaining the slaves to their oars, in emergencies they'd need to have free movement for the sake of the boat's safety, never mind their own.
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Well I haven't read about foot positioning in either an original galley nor a reproduction but some kind of angled board certainly could provide a more secure footing thus transferring more power to the oar.

I'm not sure if the modern competitive rowing boats are a good comparison because don't the seats on those slide back and forth? Galleys certainly didn't and I've never rowed an ordinary boat that did.

With the galley beached overnight (as they invariably were) the crews slept on the beach not on board.

And the slave rowers were somehow (probably by ankle chains) secured to their stations. Freedom of movement is not something the captain of the vessel wants since his free crew might be outnumber by 10 or so to 1 by the rowers. Especially if the enemy you are about to face happens to be the coreligionist of your slave rowers (as in the Christian-Islamic Wars from the 14th century onward). Besides which. panicked slave rowers might rush away from their benches to one side of the galley thus capsizing it.

The above paragraph is exact;y why the ancient navies used free paid rowers instead of slaves (Ben Hur not withstanding) to avoid the issues of a rower revolt.

kisses

willowfall
 
old slave said:
I love galley slaves, can't get enough of them, but thinking technically for a moment: when a ship is moored, presumably the oars on the quay side of the ship are brought on board? (The oars are 'shipped')
So it's not practical to chain a slave's wrists to the oar?
Still, plenty of other body parts to keep her from wandering.
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Whether galleys berthed or not, wrist chains are impractical in combat or emergency, when the oars have to be urgently retracted. :roto2palm:
 
I read somewhere that the Romans staged mock naval battles for entertainment, pitting fleets of galleys against one another in no quarter given battles, and am imagining myself among the all female rowers, stripped naked, shackled to my post, straining at my oar under the lash ... as the gladiators on the deck above prepared to close with a rival galley ... arrows and missiles landing ... blood running on the planks beneath my feet ... girls screaming with pain and shouting all about me ... yet another lash applied wickedly to my bloody back ...
 
frightened that the galley will be rammed and sunk, and that I will be dragged down, shackled to my post, along with hundreds of my sisters ... to a watery grave.

“Now! Ramming speed! Put your backs into it!” screams the helmsman.

CRACK! CRACK ... the leather flies ... grunts, cries ... CRACK CRACK ... the jar of impact throws me forward ... splintering wood ... rushing water ... screams ... the din of close combat ... wrenching frantically at my shackles ... the girl next to me sprawled dead over her oar, an arrow shaft buried in her back.

Someone kneeling beside me ... he has a key ... “hurry” ... I shout ... only to see his head separated from his body by the sword of a boarding hostile gladiator.

I slump over my oar, feigning death. as the seesaw deadly fight swirls around me.

The galley is listing, stern out of the water. I catch sight of the crowds in the stands, on their feet ... cheering!
 
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Barbaria1 said:
I read somewhere that the Romans staged mock naval battles for entertainment, pitting fleets of galleys against one another in no quarter given battles, and am imagining myself among the all female rowers, stripped naked, shackled to my post, straining at my oar under the lash ... as the gladiators on the deck above prepared to close with a rival galley ... arrows and missiles landing ... blood running on the planks beneath my feet ... girls screaming with pain and shouting all about me ... yet another lash applied wickedly to my bloody back ...
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Indeed, such naumachia were acted out in the Colosseum, the arena was designed so it could be flooded and boatloads of gladiators competed in trying to ram and storm or sink their rivals. The losers would probably die, wounded or drowned.
 
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