Ah, what it is
to have six feet of stature and a pair of shoulders!"
It turned out as he said. _L'Heureuse_, commanded by the Commodore
de la Pailletine, was the head of a squadron of six galleys then
quartered in the port of Dunkirk. But it is necessary here to say a
word or two about these strange vessels which the Count de Tourville
had recently brought round to the north coast of France from
Marseilles and the ports of the Mediterranean. They were narrow
craft, ranging from 120 feet to 150 feet long, and from eighteen feet
to twenty feet by the beam. In the hold they were not more than
seven feet deep; so that, with a full crew on board, the deck stood
less than a couple of feet from the water's edge; for the number of
men they held was prodigious. The Commodore's galley alone was
manned by 336 slaves, and 150 men of all sorts, either officers,
soldiers, seamen, or servants. This, however, was the biggest
complement of all; for while _L'Heureuse_ had fifty-six oars, with
six slaves to tug at each, none of the rest carried more than fifty,
with five rowers apiece. The prow of each galley was of iron,
pointed like a beak, and so sharp that when rowed at full speed
against a hostile ship it was like to sink her, or at least to drive
deep and hold on while the boarders poured up and over her side.
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