What Were Galley Slaves?
Galley slaves performed some of the worst tasks under the most horrible conditions possible. It is difficult to understand, in these enlightened times, how countries could brutalize individuals in such a manner, but every nation that had ships had galley slaves at one time or another. A galley slave was usually a captured prisoner of war or a criminal who was sentenced to “the galleys.” The galleys were at the bottom of large wooden ships. The ships had to use oars to move quickly, particularly in times of war. Although ancient ships also had sails, war ships were often equipped with long oars in the galleys. A small hole, large enough to accommodate the handle of each oar, was put into large wood ships just above sea level. Most ships had dozens of oars on both sides of the ship. It was the job of the galley slave to row the oars. In early times, this task was performed with skill by an experienced rower. As ships became large and more nations developed war fleets, it became necessary
