SC - Serving question

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    And after Pompeius Magnus (aka Pompey the Lucky) basically wiped out
piracy (thus avenging Caesar, BTW), the only thing left for the Roman navy
to do was river patrol, and their Mediterranean & Black Sea fleets rapidly
became a joke. A shame they never chose to explore up the major tributaries
of the Black Sea, things could have been so much more interesting . . .
    As for 'skilled sailors', though, well, for people who sailed around
inside a very large pond, I suppose they were. I note, however, that the
Atlantic scared the hell out of them. Once past the Pillars of Hercules, all
bets were off.

    Sieggy


>     You are absolutely correct.  They weren't... once they conquered the
only
> other two sea powers in the area, Carthage and Egypt, and no longer needed
a
> strong fighting navy.  Before that time, however, they *were* sailors, and
> quite skilled ones at that.
>
>     Sayyid Suleyman al-Rashid ibn Beyazid