Caravel

This article is about the Caravel boat. For the carvel type of boat building, see Carvel (boat building).

File:PotugueseCaravel.jpg

Portuguese caravel. This was the standard model used by the Portuguese in their voyages of exploration. It could accommodate about 20 sailors.

A 'caravel' is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward (beating). Caravels were much used by the Portuguese and Spanish for the oceanic exploration voyages during the 16th and 17th centuries in age of discovery.

History

Initially, up to the 15th century, Europeans were limited to coastal cabotage navigation using the barge (barca) or the balinger (barinel), ancient cargo vessels used in the Mediterranean of around 50 to 200 tons. These boats were fragile, with only one mast with a fixed quadrangular sail that could not overcome the navigational difficulties of Southward oceanic exploration, as the strong winds, shoals and strong ocean currents easily overwhelmed their abilities.

The caravel was developed based on existing fishing boats under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal and soon became the preferred vessel for Portuguese explorers. Its name may derive from an earlier Arab boat known as the qārib. They were agile and easier to navigate, with a tonnage of 50 to 160 tons and 1 to 3 masts, with lateen triangular sails allowing beating.

Being smaller and having a shallow keel, the caravel could sail upriver in shallow coastal waters. With the lateen sails attached, it could go fast over shallow water and take deep wind, while with the square Atlantic-type sails attached, it was very fast. Its economy, speed, agility, and power made it esteemed as the best sailing vessel of its time. The limited capacity for cargo and crew were their main drawbacks, but did not hinder its success.

The exploration done with caravels made possible the spice trade of the Portuguese and the Spanish. However, for the trade itself, the caravel was later replaced by the larger nau which was more profitable for trading.

File:Caravel Boa Esperanca Portugal.jpg

Caravela Latina /Lateen-rigged Caravel

File:SantaMaria.jpg

Caravela Redonda /Square-rigged Caravel

Description

The caravel generally carried two or three masts with lateen sails, while later types had four masts. Early caravels usually had two masts, a weight of around 50 tons, an overall length of 20 to 30 m, a high length-to-beam ratio of around 3.5:1, and narrow ellipsoidal frame (unlike the circular frame of the nau), making them very fast and maneuverable but with somewhat low capacity. Towards the end of the 15th century, the caravel was occasionally modified by giving it the same rig as a carrack with a foresail, square mainsail and lateen mizzen, but not the carrack's high forecastle or much of a sterncastle, which would make it unweatherly. In this form it was sometimes known as caravela redonda (a bulging square sail is said to be round, redonda, in the Iberian tradition). It was in such ships that Christopher Columbus set out on his expedition in 1492; Santa Maria was a small carrack which served as the flagship, and Pinta and Niña were slightly larger caravels of around 30 m with a beam of 6 m and weighing about 100 tons.

In the first half of the 16th century, the Portuguese created a specialized fighting ship also called caravela redonda to act as an escort in Brazil and in the East Indies route. It had a foremast with square sails and three other masts with a lateen each, for a total of 4 masts. The hull was galleon-shaped, and some experts consider this vessel a forerunner of the fighting galleon. The Portuguese Man o' War was named after this curious type of fighting ship which was in use until the 18th century.

See also

• Medieval ships

External links

• Museu da Marinha, Musée de la Marine, Paris
• Museu da Marinha, fac-similes, Musée de la Marine, Paris
• Instituto Camões. Caravela
• Durchbruch am Kap des Schreckens dir. Axel Engstfeld, Germany 2002, 52m. ZDF