§3.13.1Namque ipsorum naves ad hunc modum factae armataeque erant: carinae aliquanto planiores quam nostrarum navium, quo facilius vada ac decessum aestus excipere possent; §3.13.2prorae admodum erectae atque item puppes, ad magnitudinem fluctuum tempestatumque accommodatae; §3.13.3naves totae factae ex robore ad quamvis vim et contumeliam perferendam; §3.13.4transtra ex pedalibus in altitudinem trabibus, confixa clavis ferreis digiti pollicis crassitudine; §3.13.5ancorae pro funibus ferreis catenis revinctae; §3.13.6pelles pro velis alutaeque tenuiter confectae, [hae] sive propter inopiam lini atque eius usus inscientiam, sive eo, quod est magis veri simile, quod tantas tempestates Oceani tantosque impetus ventorum sustineri ac tanta onera navium regi velis non satis commode posse arbitrabantur.
For their own ships were built and equipped in this manner: their keels were somewhat flatter than those of our ships, so that they could more easily encounter the shallows and the ebbing tide; their prows were extremely high, and likewise their sterns, adapted to the greatness of the waves and storms; the ships were made entirely of oak to endure any violence and rough usage; the cross-beams, made of timber a foot in thickness, were fastened with iron bolts of the thickness of a thumb; their anchors were secured by iron chains instead of cables; skins and thinly dressed leather were used for sails, [these] either on account of the lack of flax and ignorance of its use, or because, which is more probable, they thought that such violent storms of the Ocean and such great forces of the winds could not be sustained, nor such heavy ships be managed with sufficient convenience by sails.
§3.13.7Cum his navibus nostrae classi eius modi congressus erat ut una celeritate et pulsu remorum praestaret, reliqua pro loci natura, pro vi tempestatum illis essent aptiora et accommodatiora.
The encounter of our fleet with these ships was of such a nature that our fleet excelled in speed alone and the impulse of the oars, while all other things, according to the nature of the place and the violence of the storms, were more suitable and adapted to theirs.
§3.13.8Neque enim iis nostrae rostro nocere poterant (tanta in iis erat firmitudo), neque propter altitudinem facile telum adigebatur, et eadem de causa minus commode copulis continebantur.
For neither could our ships injure them with their beaks (so great was their strength), nor was a missile easily cast upon them because of their height, and for the same reason they were less conveniently held by grappling irons.
§3.13.9Accedebat ut, cum [saevire ventus coepisset et] se vento dedissent, et tempestatem ferrent facilius et in vadis consisterent tutius et ab aestu relictae nihil saxa et cotes timerent; quarum rerum omnium nostris navibus casus erat extimescendus.
There was added this advantage that, when [the wind had begun to rage and] they had given themselves to the wind, they both endured the storm more easily and remained more safely in the shallows, and when left by the tide, they feared nothing from rocks and reefs; of all which circumstances, the risk was to be dreaded by our ships.