It belongs to a different epoch and a different order of things, when the invention of the 'apostis' had made the use of large sweeps rowed by two or three men possible, and a vessel with sets of three rowing upon the same horizontal plane might be called a trireme, though utterly unlike the ancient vessel of that name.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason
What century witnessed the birth of the trireme is not certain, but probably by 800 B.C. the earliest vessels of this description had been launched.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason
The problem of construction of the trireme, and of the method of its propulsion, has exercised the ingenuity of scholars ever since the revival of letters.
"Boating"
W. B. Woodgate Commentator: Harvey Mason