The Romans recognized their weakness in naval power and tactics, especially after the incident of the Lipari Islands. With this in mind they constructed the "corvus," a plank to link ships together at sea. The inventor of the "corvus" is unknown, but it could have been a Syracusan, such as Archimedes. This device would be attached to the prow of Roman ships on a rotating axle, so that it could be swung around; and its spiked end could then be dropped onto an enemy ship. In this way the Romans could still make use of their superior soldiers by loading them across the "corvus" and onto enemy ships.