Arden by: dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)
76: New and Old
1320, 5th month, 26th day
Yesterday the Prince Lysandros returned to port. Iason, Lysandros and I want to meet them. The captain greeted us warmly. He was most happy to see Lysandros, as was the crew. The captured galley came into view shortly after. It was being rowed but I could only see our men on its deck.
The captain told us as they overtook the pirate, who had rowed hard but began to tire, after about 5 hours they lowered their sail and raised a white flag. This is understood as a signal of surrender, for hundreds of years.
"I did not feel right about this. Something did not look correct. I sent several lookouts into the rigging with "far sees".
We began lowering our sails. The marines were ready at the small Kannons and our archers stood by. We were close to them but I held back just enough to required the use of long boats to go between. We lowered two and marines began climbing to them. I did this on the starboard side as they were on our port.
Due to the significant size difference between us they could not clearly see what we were doing. They beckoned for us to come closer but we did not, as their oars would have been in the way. One of the lookouts called that they had men at the ready with grapples and archers with cross bows in hand. The others were armed. I called to them to put down their weapons. They did not. Once our long boats became visible they shouted, lowered the white flag and the oars began to work. Their archers raised their bows. We fired our small Kannons and our archers began shooting. They attempted to return but were quickly overwhelmed by the grape and arrows. They soon stopped rowing and we stopped shooting. The long boats went around their port side and began boarding. Only a few pirates remained alive, most of those were wounded. Their captain was one unharmed. I personally cut off his head and threw his body into the sea. Their slave drivers were also among the unharmed. I allowed the slaves to deal with them. We have three ship's boys for your Argonauts."
Like all these Islamic pirates they do pay their slaves, all be it not overly well. The entire crew is give a share of the spoils, even the slaves. Those that survive long enough to collect. Conditions are notably harsh on these and on the galleys of Rhodes and Malta, who do not pay slaves. Many other states pay their oarsmen. Conditions are poor for most oarsmen but they do get fed and are not usually wiped or chained in place.
These pirate galleys are smaller and of shallower draft then most war ships. They tend to be fast and nimble. They are often discussed as merchants and have been known to fly false colors. The Prince Lysandros had been gaining on them for most of their five hour chase.
Had the breeze continued and the pirates not stopped they would have caught them in another hour. Had the breeze failed they would have rowed away. The marine engineers tell me that the ratio of sail area to area of the hull under the water, for Prince and Princess class ships, is much greater than from all merchants and galleys they have ever examined.
Our center fin does slow us down but our narrowness reduces the surface area. The center fin is important for stability given our very tall masts. It is partly retractable for shallow water. I assume the pirates thought once we dropped our sails we would not be able to raise them quickly and they could gain much distance before we could rejoin the chase. This is not so. Since the sails when suddenly dropped to reduce speed are not properly stored, raising them again is very quick with our new pulley system.
Were the pirates attempting to engage us or were they attempting to just fool us? We will never know for sure. The captain told me that had they managed to put more distance between us he would have used rockets to destroy them. His Kannons were at the ready as well. Most merchants today are open but still much larger than the Cogs of northern countries. Of late our merchants are two to four times the Cogs and decked over, with mostly sail power. A rudder has replaced the steering oar; these ships are single main mast with some having a triangular sails fore and aft with a large square or triangular sail on the main mast.
This pirate was like that with oars below the main deck and a hold under them. It also has a rear quarter deck and a small forecastle. Prince Class ships are again 2 to 4 times larger with three masts and substantial fore and rear castles. In place of oars we have Kannons and two more decks below that. The Princess Class has only one main or top deck and a lower dick with a large quarter deck and a small forecastle.
We four were most disappointed in the pirates and their leadership. These pirates operate under the direction of their political leadership. I guess Trables (TN: Tripoli capital of modern Libya, I will use Tripoli for his place as I have before.) needs to be reminded what happens to those that fail to respect Parga. One would have thought the sound defeat they had received, not that long ago, would keep them clear of Parga. This new galley and partial crew will be offered to Elpidus. They have a contract with Taranto, perhaps they can use another vessel.
The full moon will be available in 6 day's time. We have sufficient time to dispatch the six Princess Class and two Prince Class ships to pay a late night call on the harbor. The harbor is less of one then a series of sandy islands with a shallow partly protected zone between them and the main land. The area is open to the south west and north east. Iason will look into this, Kastor and Poly feel we should use diplomacy first. The idea is to use rockets and skimmers. Some old Roman fortifications exist however they have no means to attack our ships except with ships. If we send three Prince class ships one to block the south and two the north any opposition would be easily crushed, assuming it survives the skimmers.
The diplomatic approach taken would be quite different then that used with Bejaia. These people are vassals of Egypt. As before I was quickly talked out of the military option. What we need to do is gain the attention of the sultan in Cairo. We need to make the point that it is in his best interest to keep his privateers under control and out of our waters. Just what that interest is remains to be determined.
I for one am highly skeptical. I do not think these people are truly honorable. They will say anything and continue to do what they always have. They believe it is honorable to lie to nonbelievers like us who they treat with contempt unless they see some advantage, like trade for themselves. I simply see no reason to believe them. Over and over they have proven unreliable. In my view we need to make the same point to him as to Bejaia, we have great power which we choose not to use. These vassals pay money to Cairo. We need to demonstrate that Cairo is powerless to protect them from us, unless they stay out of our waters. We need to demonstrate that their ability to pay is related to not feeling our power.
It is the military option that will clearly demonstrate this. I think if we do not take some action others will. Those results may be even less desirable.
1320, 5th month, 27th day
I visited with the General and outlined my plan. He was most gracious, praising my strategy. He was not at all convinced that it was the correct thing to do.
"Arden think this through to its logical conclusions. Assuming you accomplish all the strategic military objectives as outlined, what end will result?"
He is correct.
"Ships sunk can and will be replaced. Changing the attitude and approach of the political power elite will not be by it. Look at Bejaia as example. They are now on friendly terms with you. They have not abandoned the use of privateers. Those privateers do not attack Parga, our ships or sail into their waters. Attacking Tripoli will do little more than cause Cairo to redouble its efforts to attack you.
The last thing any of these pirates or the other powers in this region need is knowledge of your weapons and methods. Keep doing exactly what you always have done. Destroy or capture any pirate that comes close, defend your land and people to the best of your ability and never engage in aggressive military action against others, unless you have no choice, that is in self defense.
Parga can not afford to maintain a large army and navy. Your small numbers and limited wealth are magnified many times by your superior armaments and defensive position. You need to follow Kastor's advice and try diplomacy."
The General is most correct in this. I know it but that does not mean I need be completely satisfied with that knowledge. Being a small place we are not often taken seriously in these matters. I suspect the truth of things is simply not known to them. On another point we do need to get Cairo's attention, not its full attention.
Iason and I went to the Argonauts dining hall to meet the new requites. They seem like a good lot. Quite shy and unsure of themselves. That is to be expected. We sat with them and their Argonaut translators. I could see other visitors were about to descend on ropes. Place you hand on Umar's shoulder Iason. Umar! I shouted. He stopped mid way down and look at me. I pointed up. A hand was stretched out holding his sketch book. It looked much like that of Akakios.
Umar ascended and took the book in his mouth and descended again. All this to much laughter and chiding from almost everyone in the hall. The new Umar was much confused and being touched by a prince was beyond him. My Umar ran to the table and give me a kiss. Then he turned to the new boys and in Arabic introduced himself and the others.
Iason told them, "the children of this place are indulged even more so then the princes."
"I'm a Prince, Iason." Lysandros raised his hand and the boys all shouted, "Boy Power, Boy Power" and marched off to their other friends.
1320, 5th month, 29th day
The King Iason and Prince Karyakos are now in the dry quays. They are being cleaned, scraped and painted. We will have a new signaling system on this voyage. We have new spirit lamps that are in a large round housing. These lamps still have parabolas behind the flame but they are held in a tube with a glass on the other end. On the outside of the glass is a wooden structure that is made up of small flat boards that can be opened or closed. The boards or slats travel 90 degrees by means of a lever. Short and long exposures are very accurate and also directional, as the light source is within the tube and only visible in the direction the slats are open.
The tube is made of bronze and the spirit lamp can be replaced with the koallime flame, which burns very bright in the day time or in bad weather. Different colored glass can also be placed in the tube. The apparent size of the light can also be used as a measure of distance at night. A series of disks with holes in them are held up each disk has a different size hole and each is marked for the stadia they represent.
All of this was invented at the Academia and University. We expect some limitations in rough seas and heavy storms. Panther has been looking after this project. He assures me that these lamps and our flag system is far superior to any other navy in the world. Wan has told him the Chinese have nothing close to it. We know none in Europe or to our east have anything like it either. Most use a few pre determined colored flags and none other has the far see.
We now have flags with specific meaning, coded flag messages, flag coded messages by men holding two flags in different positions and day and night coded light messages and light plus color messages. (TN: Flag coded and coded flags must be letters to spell words or word abbreviations. We call this semaphore. The long and short lights are the same, not unlike Mores code. He does not tell us exactly how they worked.) If we can see each other we can communicate on sea or land or between. The sun or spirits or koallime sources for our lamps are unique to us. Some others use mirrors but none that we know of use mirrors as code signaling device, as we do. The land army has some difficulties given hills and trees but over all they have demonstrated the use of signals. Could it be that others are not as well educated as we?
The General believes some of the famous battles of antiquity might have gone to the looser had reliable signaling systems been in place.
We know from experience how important information can be in any battle. Reliable intelligence and sound information about the lay of the land can be critical. One of the things I have learned from our own experience and from the General is the importance of making full advantage of your strengths. Archers need be in good defensive positions or be well protected. Swamps, steep ravines, even small rivers can be death traps or good defenses. Force your enemy to come to you. If he is in a strong defensive position, find its weak point or find a way to bring him out.
Many of these lessons were learned the hard way by Edward II, only six short years ago. He attacked the Scots with superior forces but inferior position and strategy. He did not have full knowledge of the ground, much of his cavalry was caught in a trap and failed to protect his archers. What was to the General unforgivable; Edward was told of the physical impediments and that most of the Scots were hidden in dense woods. He was being drawn into a trap. He paid no attention and went anyway. He underestimated his enemy in: position, numbers, ability and desire. He was not forced to attack then and there, it need not have happened as it did. Apparently he thought his impressive army would frighten the Scots way. That is foolish and a classic example of underestimation. The Scots were protecting their homes and culture. They had the most to loose. They had added incentive to fight harder.
The General believes, had Edward good signaling systems much of that disaster could have been avoided or at least salvaged. Had they good knowledge of the land they would have avoided the trap and forced the Scots to come to them. He failed to head sound advice from knowledgeable locals. He allowed his cavalry to be devastated by a Scott version of the old Greek Square and added Long Bows. Just what Alexander did to Darios without the long bows. Edward's army was so large that they were unable to move quickly in these tight quarters. Being confined to the old Roman Road. Good signaling would have helped greatly with this and other problems.
Had he properly defended his long bows they could have reduced the advancing spears and men at arms, allowing the cavalry to do its work. Cavalry does not work well in woods or in tight quarters. The General told me the Romans defeated an early uprising of the Britons in much the same way. Never try an push a large force through a choke point. It just will not work. "It did not work for the pre-Roman English or for the Persians or anyone to approach Parga's eastern pass. It will not work for you."
If we fail to know our history we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes again and again. I am sure I will make mistakes and so will all of us. I pray they are new mistakes, not repeats of that which we should know better of. My impression of Edward is well known. In sum he is pompous and self indulgent to a fault. Like so many born to high positions he is intolerant to contrary opinions and dismissive of anyone who is not his perceived equal. The history scholars tell me the Norman, come English nobles, have several grieves faults. Believing they are all powerful and above the rules of anyone else, the most troublesome.
Our Despot Nik is much like Edward in this. He is not English. This must be more common among those born to power. In his defense, his grand father had promised the crown of Epirus to his son in law father. It was Thomas' mother, the second wife, that refused this arrangement and keeping the crown for her son. She believed Thomas had a birth right, which superseded a promise made by her dead husband before he was even conceived. That does not justify murder.
Edward has shown himself to be less than political and overly self-confident in his abilities. He plays a very dangerous game of pitting vassals against each other, often by overtly favoring those that tell him what he wants to hear.
It is perhaps that Edward did not realize how powerful a weapon the massing of long bows could be. We have known this for some time. I often forget that others do not necessarily know what we know. The conventional wisdom of the time and place suggest they would not be. The General told me that. One would have thought the English would have known this from nothing more then their own experience. He also reminded me that the Welsh Long bow has much more power than others. That difference may well have not been known or understood by those not having seen them in action.
We are the only army in this part of the world to use long bows. To be effective against cavalry the archers need be concentrated and in strong defensive positions. Against foot solders they need not be in defensive positions but need to be protected. By concentrating themselves or spread two to three deep along a line, they achieve the same effect. In tight quarters like the eastern pass they need to shoot rapidly like we did from the quarter deck of the Prince Arden.
Two thoughts are common among the generals. I favor a combination. Some feel the archers should loose as many arrows as possible arching them height in the air to fall on the opposition. This does not use the full power of the long bow, except it can be done from a greater distance. Armor and good shields are effective defenses against this. Others think the best use is at point blank range, the archers loosing arrows as quickly as possible when the enemy is in range. At the repaid rate of 10 to 12 each minute from hundreds of archers at once, an advancing army or cavalry can be halted in its tracks. I would guess decimated but we have never had the situation to test this. (TN: This would be proven some years away yet, during the 100 years war.)
I think, if it is foot solders, both techniques should be used but the shooting rate at 6 to 8 each minute. I want the archers to take careful aim not just point. If cavalry is charging, two to the horse and one to the rider. Archers should from in groups of four and try to loose at a rate of 8 each minute. The forth to take anyone on the ground. Volley after volley will be required. Should our own forces engage the enemy in front of the archers, they must stop or take only clear shots like hunting.
If in heavy woods the archers should work as if hunting, taking careful aim and picking targets carefully. In these situation spears and men at arms should form small teams with archers to protect each other. On ships many archers need lay down the bow and take up other weapons when fighting in close quarters. We will often set aside the long bows in favor of the Greek bow, when the distances are less then 100 feet and space between becomes a premium. Our marine archers often train with battle axes, short javelins and staffs as well as swards and knives.
King Iason and Father received the new boys at dinner, in the family dining room. Now dressed as Argonauts they looked like they had always been so. Father thought carefully, commenting to the new Umar, "I think we must find you a second name. We already have a grand son named Umar and one in each of the Argonaut houses. King Iason and I need a way of reference as to not be confused. Perhaps you should be know as Umar of the castle or do you have a suggestion?"
Umar turned to his translator for assistance. "My Arabic family name translates to Umar the worthy son of Asim and so on. Can I be known as Umar-Asim?" He looked down at the table. "Then Umar-Asim it will be," spoke the King. "Now, Umar-Asim and the other four new wards tell us about yourselves. Prince Karyakos and I need to learn about our newest sons."
So it went. The boys were shy but soon surrender to Father and Uncle's charm.
1320, 5th month, 30th day
Onesimos came to see us this afternoon. He had made his choice for the future.
"I want to attend school at the academy. Kerion has arranged for me to lease my home and grazing rights to my cousin. Kerion drove a hard bargain on my behalf. He told me it was fair. I am to receive 10% of the wool for five years plus a cask of olives and round of cheese each year. He is to maintain the monument, pay the taxes and crown rent, treating the house as if it were his own. After 5 years I can sell the house to him, if I choose not to live in it. I do not yet know if I will ever return to that place or region. Kerion thinks I should finish my schooling and then decide."
I guess none of the offers were acceptable to the King or perhaps Onesimos did not wish to return to the rural life. He did seem pleased to be attending school. I know Helladios is very fond of him and I am sure he tried to influence his decisions. Helo believes that the companionship of the other students and removal from the place will help him to heal the pain in his heart. He returns the see Perum and Flavia often. I think that too is good.
Reports are coming to us that many people are quite ill. The young children seem most effected by this. Schools and public baths have been closed. The castle's young children are forbidden to leave and those adults that must leave are not permitted to interact with them.
Not everyone believes this sickness is spread from person to person unless one of those persons is also sick. Others think different. Our Palace Physicians will take no chances. They admit they do not know how this spreads. None of our boys or the pages are ill.
1320, 6th month, 1st day
We have had much rain of late. Many of the lakes and streams are feared will flood. We are very careful not to build any structures in the areas that floods have been known to occur or where our ingegneres see evidence of flooding in the past, except water mills of course.
Rain is important for growing things. It is important to resupply our reservoirs. When it rains for days at a time I can not run and that is difficult for me. If nothing else there is sex. Not that we need reason to enjoy it. Enjoy it we do.
1320, 6th month, 4th day
The rain has stopped but the sky is still heavy with clouds. The air is cool. I will not run for another day or two as the land is soft. Reports are coming that indicate several bridges were lost and some sections of roads have failed. No loss of life or livestock have been reported. One citizen has been commended for helping to save a mother and her children who were caught in the rising waters to the north. That person will, I am sure, receive a Hero of Parga medallion.
1320, 6th month, 6th day
The sun is shining and the air is warm. The salt marsh below our castle walls is still filled with water. Ikaros feels the insects will be quite difficult in a few days time. I am no more fond of mosquitos than the next. Ikaros has stationed clay pots around our apartments and even on our terrace. He burns the damp green leaves of some herb or another. When the breeze is not strong these work well to keep the pests away. If the breeze is strong it does that for us. We have found that covering our bodies with a thin application of oil is a great help when we are outside.
One thing we have learned, summer waters that lay stagnate are homes of mosquitos and others insect pests. We make a concerted effort in the city to minimize these. The salt marsh before the castle is quite different. It can never be minimized without giving up its' great defensive value. We encourage bats and birds to nest here and on the cliffs behind. They seem to thrive on eating these pests.
Many people in other places believe the sickness arises from the vapors or humors of the swamp. We have demonstrated that it is not the vapors but the insects that spread the disease. We know not exactly how but it must be through their bites; since those not or little bitten seem not to suffer and those often bitten appear to. It seems logical that if an insect bits it takes something, flesh or blood. If it takes, may it not also leave. What it gives we know not. The result appear to be sickness.
We were all talking about this when Helladios asked for my opinions. It then seems logical that most sickness results from something being left. If a scratch festers, something must be left by the scratching source. That is probably why the healing waters or soap and other cleaners moderate, cure or prevent festering. The sting of the bee is stronger than prick of a pin, yet they are the same. The bee must leave something that is harmful and pin not. We know the bite of a poisonous snake leaves its venom. That is a substance.
"Then you are saying that the agent to much disease is present on things and in substances such as pond water," Helladios asked?
I am saying that logic would suggest that is the case, as any other idea requires more fanciful explanations.
"How then might these, to small to be seen things, become visible," Helo asked?
Joulous answered, "If the far see makes thing appear larger then perhaps the lenses can be reshaped to very small things, things to small for the eye alone to see, larger."
We know a piece of transparent crystal thicker in the middle than at the edges, or a blank of fine glass when shaped like this forms a lens.
Someone also found that such a crystal would focus the sun's rays and set fire to a piece of parchment, dry wood shavings or cloth. Magnifiers and "burning glasses" or "magnifying glasses" are mentioned in the writings of Seneca and Pliny the Elder and others. Apparently they were not used for much else until the invention of spectacles, toward the end of the 11th century in Parga. They were named lenses because they are shaped like the seeds of a lentil. You are quite correct about the far see. It uses two of these lenses placed in a tube one larger and one smaller. The distance between must be adjusted to bring the image or object into what we call focus, that is to make them clear.