Michael Robinson on 17 Sep 2007  •  Link

Per L&M Companion 'Large Glossary':

Large open rowing boat plying on Thames.

"Being through bridge I found the Thames full of boats and gallys, and upon inquiry found that there was a wager to be run this morning. So spying of Payne in a gully, I went into him, and there staid, thinking to have gone to Chelsy with them. But upon, the start, the wager boats fell foul one of another, till at last one of them gives over, pretending foul play, and so the other row away alone, and all our sport lost."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

It is uncertain if a galley had only one or more than one waterman or oarsman as crew and they would appear to be appear to be similar to:-
Model of a "Navy Board style" barge or Shallop, circa 1691
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/…

In Pepys usage a 'barge,' 'Navy Office Barge', 'Royal Barge', 'Livery Company Barge,' though based on the same or similar hull form seems to be a formally decorated craft with an enclosed cabin in the stern and crewed by a number of watermen. For later surviving examples see:-

Commissioners Barge of the Royal Navy, mid c 18th.
http://www.nhsc.org.uk/index.cfm/…

Prince Frederick's Barge circa 1732
http://www.nhsc.org.uk/index.cfm/…

San Diego Sarah on 30 Jun 2016  •  Link

In the Mediterranean another type of Galley confronted the English sailors, the Genoese Galley:

For pictures see: http://bob.plord.net/Ships/Period… One caption says, "Essentially mass-produced, there was little investment in decoration. At the Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571, there were some 27 Genoese galleys, ...."

They were rowed by men, sometimes prisoners or slaves.
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal…
"It was only in the early 16th century that the modern idea of the galley slave became commonplace. Galley fleets as well as the size of individual vessels increase in size, which required more rowers. ... It became increasingly common to man galleys with convicts or slaves, which required a simpler method of rowing. The older method of employing professional rowers using the alla sensile method (one oar per man, with two to three sharing the same bench) was gradually phased out in favor of rowing a scaloccio, which required less skill."

San Diego Sarah on 30 Jun 2016  •  Link

Speaking of galley slaves, St. Vincent de Paul was ministering to these unhappy people in early 17th Century France:

"After the poor of the country, Vincent's solicitude was directed towards the convicts in the galleys, who were subject to M. de Gondi as general of the galleys of France. Before being convoyed aboard the galleys, or when illness compelled them to disembark, the condemned convicts were crowded with chains on their legs onto damp dungeons, their only food being black bread and water, while they were covered with vermin and ulcers. Their moral state was still more frightful than their physical misery. Vincent wished to ameliorate both. Assisted by a priest, he began visiting the galley convicts of Paris, speaking kind words to them, doing them every manner of service, however repulsive. He thus won their hearts, converted many of them, and interested in their behalf several persons who came to visit them.

"A house was purchased where Vincent established a hospital. Soon appointed by Louis XIII royal almoner of the galleys, Vincent profited by this title to visit the galleys of Marseilles where the convicts were as unfortunate as at Paris; he lavished his care on them and also planned to build them a hospital; but this he could only do 10 years later. Meanwhile, he gave on the galley of Bordeaux, as on those of Marseilles, a mission which was crowned with success (1625)."

Later St. Vincent freed - presumably French Catholic - Barbary slaves, many of whom toiled as rowers in Galleys:

"Of all the works carried on abroad, none interested Vincent so much as the poor slaves of Barbary, whose lot he had once shared. These were from 25,000 to 30,000 of these unfortunates divided chiefly between Tunis, Algiers, and Bizaerta.

"Christians for the most part, they had been carried off from their families by the Turkish corsairs. They were treated as veritable beasts of burden, condemned to frightful labor, without any corporal or spiritual care.

"Vincent left nothing undone to send them aid. As early as 1645 he sent among them a priest and a brother, who were followed by others. Vincent even had one of these invested with the dignity of consul in order that he might work more efficaciously for the slaves. They gave frequent missions to them, and assured them the services of religion.

"At the same time they acted as agents with their families, and were able to free some of them. Up to the time of St. Vincent's death these missionaries had ransomed 1,200 slaves, and they had expended 1,200,000 liveres in behalf of the slaves of Barbary, not to mention the affronts and persecutions of all kinds which they themselves had endured from the Turks."
see: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/1…

As we know from the Diary, the newly-created Anglican church wasn't very organized, and Charles II headed efforts to ransom back Britons. He wasn't very successful compared to the French.

Bill on 19 Dec 2016  •  Link

GALLEY, a Sea-Vessel with Oars.
---An universal etymological English dictionary. N. Bailey, 1724.