Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Remus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

RE'MUS (ἐρετμὸς, κώπη). An oar. The small oars and sculls, when managed by a single man, differed in no respect from those in modern use, as may be seen from numerous specimens inserted in these pages; but the larger kinds, which sometimes extended to the length of 54 feet, and consequently required several men to one oar, must have been too thick at the handle for the hand to grasp; whence it may be confidently assumed, that they were constructed in the same manner as those used in the Mediterranean galleys of the 16th and 17th centuries, which were from 45 to 50 feet in length, each one requiring six rowers, who managed it by the assistance of a false handle or rail, affixed to the main butt, as shown by the annexed woodcut (Remus/1.1), representing the part inboard of one of the oars described. The flat piece, just beyond the handle, is distinct from the oar itself, but is fastened to it, as a guard, to prevent the consumption of the oar by rubbing against the side of the vessel, and easily renewable when itself worn out.

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  Remus/1.1