The Port of Ostia

Decius Gorgo was on his sixth wax tablet, busily revising his weight and balance figures. Tullius Vulpus, the naval architect employed by the largest ship building firm in Ostia, was at his side, peering over his shoulders.

"It has to be moved further aft, if we're going to refit it to an existing hull. Otherwise...see here...there will be too much weight forward. The bow will ride too low in the water, and she'll wallow like a pig if she's headed into the seas."

Gorgo nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I see, Tullius Vulpus, but that means that the arc in which the device may be employed will be severely limited. It would be useable--what?--about from 30 to 90 degrees relative to the bow on either side?"

"That's about right" responded the architect. "Meaning a ship would have to approach its target along side, rather than head-on. A run-in heading like that would of neccessity shear the oars off of the engaged side of the target vessel...not a bad outcome, but if the ship is captured by infantry, she'll be restricted in her ability to maneuver afterwards."

Startled by that realization, Gorgo asked, "Wouldn't the same thing happen to the friendly ship making the attack, corvus or not?"

"That's where skilled seamanship comes in! The captain of the attacking vessel has to time everything perfectly! Having enough speed to overtake the target vessel...planning the approach at just the right angle...commanding the engaged side to 'ship oars' right as the bow begins to shear the oars off the enemy ship...giving the order to drop the corvus at just the right time to snag the target firmly...and, of course, having the naval infantry ready to storm across the ramp once it's in place. It's do-able, but it will take practice, and lots of it!"

Gorgo was truly enthused about the project. "So a refitted trireme would have a deadly advantage with this device, even with the restricted employment arcs."

"True enough!" replied Vulpus. "Now if, on the other hand, we design a trireme from the keel up with a corvus incorporated from the very beginning, we can move the boom much further forward, providing we compensate the weight distribution throughout the rest of the hull." He was making marks in the wax tablet furiously, and soon their rough work would be transferred to properly annotated scrolls. "Like so! And we eliminate the elaborate stemwork at the prow, leaving the forward part of the vessel open...like this! Now a ship like this, well she'd be able to engage an enemy head-on, and 90 degrees to either side. The ramp could be broad enough to accommdate six, maybe eight infantry storming across in tight formation...easily!"

"None of that swinging across on ropes or scrambling over the gunwhales onesey-twosey," said Gorgo, continuing the thought, "you can plop a tremendous amount of infantry power down on the deck of an enemy vessel rapidly! Now this is something that a lubber like myself can understand! We will turn any naval engagement into an infantry engagement! Why did Rome ever abandon this technology? Ah, well, never mind...Tullius Vulpus, I know a Tribune in Rome who will just love this!"