CHAP. I.]

ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM.

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such space for warehouse and stores, that it couldkeep at sea for six months without once havingoccasion to touch land for any sort of provision,not even water; for it had a monstrous supply forall that time of water, the freshest and most lim-pid; nor did the crew eat biscuit, but excellentwhite bread, baked every day, the corn beingground by a multitude of handmills, and an ovenso capacious, that it baked two thousand largeloaves at a time. That ship was sheathed with sixseveral sheathings of metal, two of which underwater, were lead with bronze screws (which do notconsume the lead like iron screws), and with suchconsummate art was it built, that it never couldsink, no human power could submerge it. Magnifi-cent rooms, an armoury for five hundred men;but of the quantity of cannon of every kind, noneed say anything, save that fifty of them were ofextraordinary dimensions; but what crowned all isthat the enormous vessel was of incomparable swift-ness and agility, and that its sails were astonishinglymanageable; that it required little toil to veer orreef, and perform all nautical evolutions, not tospeak of fighting people, but the mere marinersamounted to three hundred; as likewise two galleysof fifteen benches each, one galley lying in tow offthe stern, and the other galley drawn aboard ; not

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