But when they came to the wide camp of the Achaeans, they drew the black ship up on the shore, high upon the sands, and set in line the long props beneath, and themselves scattered among the tents and ships.” (Book I of the Iliad) So the wind filled the belly of the sail, and the dark wave sang loudly about the stem of the ship, as she went, and she sped over the wave, accomplishing her way.
And Apollo, who works from afar, sent them a favouring wind, and they set up the mast and spread the white sail. The return trip is as follows (line 474): “…But when the sun set and darkness came on, they lay down to rest by the stern cables of the ship, and as soon as early rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, then they set sail for the wide camp of the Achaeans. Then they cast out the mooring-stones and made fast the stern cables, and themselves went forth upon the shore of the sea.” When the ship reaches its destination then, (line 431)”When they had arrived within the deep harbour, they furled the sail, and stowed it in the black ship, and the mast they lowered by the forestays and brought it to the crutch with speed, and rowed her with oars to the place of anchorage. In book I, line 307 a trip by ship is begun: “but the son of Atreus launched a swift ship on the sea, and chose for it twenty rowers,” TheĪrcher Philoctetes led a group of seven ships with 50 warriors each. The warriors from Boetia came 120 to a ship.
In the Iliad Homer describes the army that attacked Troy in terms of the ships that they arrived in. Travel and Transportation in Ancient Greece