Читать книгу The Journey: How an obscure Byzantine Saint became our Santa Claus - David Price Williams - Страница 21

would be brought broadside on to the quay and then dragged sideways until it just touched the huge, roped-straw fenders hanging down to protect their hulls. The gangplanks would be pushed out and the unloading could begin.

We had military ships too calling at Patara, enormous galleys which carried legionaries from one part of the empire to another stopping for supplies or to fix some minor damage. We didn’t normally see many soldiers where we were. Most people were only too happy to live in peace with the imperial administration, especially since everyone was making so much money out of them! When the galleys were out at sea, they looked like huge centipedes with the oars moving to and fro in unison, but in the harbour the oars were taken in-board and they had to be warped in with ropes just like all the rest. They were heavy, these troop ships, especially when fully loaded and the dock gangs had to haul extra hard to bring their hulks into their appointed place, usually with some over-dressed centurion or another, in full armour, bawling superfluous orders at them from the deck railing. Once they’d come to rest, the officers in charge would shout more orders to the men on the dock-side and then disembark. Arrogantly, in full dress and with sword hilts bouncing on their thighs, they swaggered over to the harbour buildings to arrange the official documents before sloping off to one of the wine shops along the front, not the

DAVID PRICE WILLIAMS