Size of Venice's merchant galleys 1318-1559

Between 1318 and 1559, Venetian merchant galleys grew larger in terms of size and carrying capacity, during a period of significant innovation in shipbuilding technologies. While the dimensions of the ships increased by just a few meters in length, breadth, and depth, galleys built in the 1550s had roughly 2.5 times the carrying capacity of the ships used in the early 1300s. Larger dimensions did facilitate this, but ships were also designed in such a way that space was more effectively utilized for storage, fewer oarsmen were needed, and their structures could bear heavier loads.

New possibilities

The implementation of the compass and improved navigation methods meant year round crossings of the Mediterranean were now possible (before it had only been possible in the brightest six months), and ship capacities were increased to maximize trade volume. Genoa, Italy's second largest city at the time, had also defeated the Barbary fleet that controlled the straits of Gibraltar in the 1290s, which opened up longer trade routes to places such as London and Flanders (present-day Belgium), which required larger, better equipped ships.

The Arsenale di Venezia

Many of these ships, especially larger galleys, were built in the Venetian Arsenal, a publicly owned shipyard and armory (supposedly) founded in 1104 and operational until the 1800s, when it was repurposed to act as a naval base. Shipbuilding was a major contributor to the Venetian economy, and many of the revolutionary advancements in seafaring technologies were developed in the Arsenal, which some speculate may have been Europe's largest manufacturing plant prior to industrialization.