Of all the ships at sea the most dreaded were the French Galley's. Not that they were the most formidable of warships. They were on the decline. What maded them so dreaded was the fact that they were, in essense, prison ships. As a prisoner you could to to jail, or if you were really bad, you would be condemed to death on the galleys. And it was a death scentence. Many Protestant men, who refused to convert after the renunciation of the Eddict of Nante, were sent to the galleys, most of whom died, being worked to death. On slave trading ships the cargo at least had a chance to survive the voyage. Galley crews were doomed.
However not all galleys were floating execution platforms. Here is the stern from the Reale De France. This was the royal galley. Check out the use of gold and the head of apollo (ei Louis XIV) in the center of all the gold goo-gah.
Below is ship that took the Reale's place. The ship is NOT the kind of ship I would want to run into. For one thing it could blast me to bits. For another if I was able to take this ship I would still be SOL since it takes such a shit pot load of people to crew.
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