>Quinqueremes are usually described as the typical warship in the
>naval battles of the Punic Wars. The Wikipedia article with that
>heading says 'During the Second Punic War Rome had 220 quinqueremes'.
>
>The same article continues (section heading 'Polyremes') also says:
Thanks for the reference.
[snip]
>Oared warships were still used in the Mediterranean as late as the
>16th century (Lepanto, 1517), by which time they had started to
>mount cannon. So there was a narrow period of history in our world
>when oared warships and galleons were contemporary.
It's longer than that. The Spanish Armada of 1588 included four galleys and four galleasses. One of the few recorded cases of galleys being used outside the Mediterranean where they were still the warships of preference. The Barbary Corsairs continued using galleys until the US navy eliminated them in the early 19th Century.
Getting back to Glorantha specialist warships are mostly going to be rowed but merchantmen are generally going to rely on sail. Of course a solidly built merchantman with a load of soldiers is pretty useful in a fight.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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