Odyssey 5.252 · Book 5, lines 252–255
Decks, mast, and steering-oar
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ἴκρια δὲ στήσας, ἀραρὼν θαμέσι σταμίνεσσι, ποίει· ἀτὰρ μακρῇσιν ἐπηγκενίδεσσι τελεύτα. ἐν δʼ ἱστὸν ποίει καὶ ἐπίκριον ἄρμενον αὐτῷ· πρὸς δʼ ἄρα πηδάλιον ποιήσατο, ὄφρʼ ἰθύνοι.
He set up the decking, fitting it with close-set ribs, and wrought it, then finished it off with long gunwale-planks. In it he set a mast and a yard fitted to it; and besides he made a steering-oar, so that he might steer her.
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The setting
The construction continues. Odysseus decks the hull on close-set ribs, raises its sides, and rigs it with mast, yard, and a steering-oar — turning the raft into a small sailing vessel.
A note on this passage
The raft grows into a vessel. Odysseus lays a deck on close-set ribs, caps the sides with long gunwale-planks, steps a mast with its yard, and shapes a steering-oar. Each part is the right part, named in the right order — this is a small ship now, not a float.
The last clause looks ahead: he makes the steering-oar ‘so that he might steer her.’ A single man will have to hold that oar across open water, and the poem is already resting weight on it. When the great storm comes, the first thing Poseidon's wave will tear from his hands is exactly this rudder. The care lavished here on steering is the care of a man who knows the sea can take it away.
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