In a country where the sea was both the principal line of communication and one of, if not the principal invasion route of its enemies, it is no surprise to find that Trebizond maintained a permanent navy, last mentioned in 1437. It was of modest proportions, however, usually comprising only 2-3 large warships plus smaller vessels which were requisitioned as and when required; for example, a fleet recorded in 1355 had just one warship and 11 smaller vessels, and another in 1379 had ‘2 great warships and 2 boats’. Excepting Ludovico’s unlikely figure of 30 galleys, the largest number of ships recorded was in 1402, when Tamerlane demanded that Manuel III should provide the service of 20 galleys for use against the Ottomans, though he never did and — as we have seen — probably never could have. (However, it is quite likely that there was a Trapezuntine contingent in Tamerlane’s army at the Battle of Ankara, even though it is not mentioned by contemporaries.) Command of the navy was in the hands of the Grand Duke, the last known holder of this post actually being described as the amyriales or admiral in 1396. The Venetian and more especially the Genoese colonies established in Trebizond also occasionally involved themselves in the Empire’s naval activities.
The 2 or 3 Imperial warships were of a type called a katergon or bucca, a large vessel of probably 4-600 tons with 2 lateen-rigged masts and sometimes oars, capable of transporting 3-600 men (the size of the Trapezuntine fleet therefore providing further proof — if it were needed — of the smallness of the army). Other types of vessel were the barka or karabion, i. e. the cog, a one-masted sailing ship; the galea or galley, not much used on the Black Sea by the Trapezuntines; and assorted small fishing and rowing boats called griparion, paraskalmion and xylarion. As many as 40 xylaria are recorded to have accompanied a Trapezuntine fleet in 1372.
World History
