West-Saxons, chiefly on the south coast, by predatory bands ; most of all by their ' aescs,' which they had built many years before. Then king Alfred commanded long ships to be built to oppose the aescs; they were full-nigh twice as long as the others ; some had sixty oars, and some had more : they were both swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others. They were shapen neither like the Frisian nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to him that they would be most efficient.