The value of the caravel in the Middle Ages. The meaning of the word caravel

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The first European ships that crossed the Atlantic in 1492 and discovered New World, became the ships of Christopher Columbus. Caravels "Pinta" and "Nina" with a displacement of 60 tons each, had good seaworthiness.

The Nina carried triangular Latin sails, while the Pinta carried straight ones.

Subsequently, the same will be installed on Ninya.

The third ship of the flotilla, the notorious "Santa Maria", was not a caravel, it was a hundred-ton carrack. These were the leading ships of their time, and the records they set are still admired by navigators. The flotilla of Admiral Columbus was strong and hardy, which cannot be said about the crew.

Caravel "Nina"

After thirty days on the high seas, a riot was brewing. Going on seemed like madness. To reassure the sailors, the captain promised to turn around if they did not see land for the next three days. Columbus was an experienced navigator and saw that there were signs of the proximity of land. Algae were seen more and more often, flocks of birds sat on the masts, and on the night of October 11-12, the ships finally reached the long-awaited shore.

Following Columbus, Spanish conquistadors, conquerors and colonialists, rushed to the shores of the New World. Half a century later, all of Mexico, Central America and even part of South America were in the possession of Spain. The Spaniards introduced a rigid monopoly on trade with the New World. However, already in the first quarter of the XVI century. England and France decided to reshape the world in their own way. A huge role in the struggle for maritime dominance was played by pirates who entered the main sea route with the knowledge and blessing of the highest persons of their states.

Perhaps the most cruel and successful corsair can be called Francis Drake. Having personal scores with the Spaniards, Captain Drake created a small squadron and made his first raid on the Caribbean coast. plundering Spanish cities and capturing ships with treasure, the pirate generously shared the booty with the English treasury. Not surprisingly, Queen Elizabeth gave him official permission to actively obstruct Spanish trade in pacific ocean. Elizabeth's expectations came true: a pirate voyage 1577-1580. brought Drake 4700% of net profit, the lion's share of which, of course, received the English queen. Not out of simple curiosity, but by force of circumstances, fleeing the persecution of Spanish ships, Drake made the second, after Magellan, round-the-world trip.

Drake sailed on the ship "Pelican", later renamed the "Golden Doe" by the corsair for its speed. However, despite the name change, the pelican painted on the stern and sculptural image this bird on the nose remained unchanged attributes of Drake's ship.

"Golden Doe" - the famous ship of Francis Drake

The legendary "Golden Doe" was a small 18-gun ship about 18 m long. The hull, made of hardwood, was very durable, and the three-masted sailing rig corresponded to the latest trends of the era. Two guns were placed on the deck. Three light falconets were also installed there, placed on special swivel installations. Of these, they fired at enemy ships, and in the event of a boarding, they deployed and could shoot along the deck.

In the XV century. the word "sappope" (cannon) is beginning to refer to an artillery piece of any type and size. The smallest of these were falconets, muskets (gradually turned into hand guns) and ship bombardels, which fired stone or iron cannonballs. Small-caliber guns were placed on the bulwark and held by swivel forks. Heavy cartoons and long-barreled large-caliber culverins were placed on the lower deck to give greater stability to the ship. Gradually, cannon barrels begin to be cast along with trunnions - cylindrical protrusions that made it possible to point the gun in a vertical plane.

Galion "Amsterdam"

By the middle of the XVI century. the term "karakka" is falling out of use, and large sailing ships with three or four masts are beginning to be called simply "vessel *. A variety of naves of those times were Portuguese and French caravels, as well as Spanish talions. The seas were then dominated by large sailing ships with various caliber artillery. The increase in the area of the sails made them more maneuverable and easier to manage. One such sailboat was raised from the bottom of the Hemble River. According to experts, the found sailboat is nothing more than the famous “Great Harry” of the English king Henry VIII, built in 1514. Probably, the “Harry” was the last large ship with a displacement of 1000 tons, which was sheathed with wooden dowels.

French pinas. 17th century

Old technologies gradually receded into the past, and in the XVI century. in the north of Europe, a new type of sailing vessel appeared - a three-masted pinnace with a displacement of 100-150 tons. Subsequently, the displacement of these ships increased to 800 tons. Pinnases were used mainly as cargo ships, and therefore armed with only 8-10 guns.

The Portuguese galleon had much in common with the pinnas, which was readily borrowed by the Spaniards, the British and the French and by the end of the century became the basis of all strong European fleets.
A feature of the gallion was a sharp hull, the length of which, along the keel (about 40 m), was almost four times its width. The heavy aft superstructure, characteristic of the karakka, was replaced by a narrow and high one, containing up to seven decks, in which the captain's cabin, a powder cellar - a cruit chamber and storage rooms were located. 50-80 guns mounted on two battery decks fired at the enemy through the ports. The ram on the nose soon lost its combat value, and in this place they arranged a latrine, decorated with a nasal figure. At the stern there were one or two galleries, which later began to be glazed.
Three sails were usually hoisted on the mainsail and foremasts. The mizzen and bonaventure masts had slanting latin sails. Another straight sail was pulled on the bow, which received the funny name "artemon". Due to the high sides and bulky superstructures, the galleons were heavy and clumsy.
The crew, as it was then supposed to be for a large warship with a displacement of 500-1400 tons, reached 200 people. Often, galleons delivered settlers to America, and sailed back, stuffing their holds to the top with jewels - a tasty bait for numerous pirates, from whose all-seeing eyes it seemed impossible to escape.

"Nina", "Pint", "Santa Maria "- names legendary ships The first expedition of Christopher Columbus to the shores of the New World has firmly entered history, got into all encyclopedias and school textbooks of geography.

After the political and economic issues of organizing an overseas expedition were resolved (April 17, 1492, the highest good was finally given and funds were found), the time came to equip the ships and look for a team.

So, first of all - courts. What kind of ships could withstand ocean navigation? How many are necessary and sufficient? One ship was clearly not enough for such a dangerous and long voyage - the risk was too great. Secondly, one cannot bring a large number"mining" - gold, silver, spices, silks, incense and other things (which Columbus and his creditors primarily counted on) to cover expenses and recoup the enterprise. Recall that Columbus was going to "discover" Japan and China, and not America at all. Two ships is already better. Four is unreasonably expensive. But three - just right. And all the good from Chipangu and Chinas, (Japan and China) will have something to bring, and the probabilistic resistance to return is higher than on two ships. Of all the possible types of ships for the campaign, Columbus chose caravels.

What is a caravel

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Origin of the name "caravel"

caravel - lat. /caravela-port. / carabela - hisp ./ caravella - it ./

It can be assumed that the wordcaravelahas a Latin basis and is formed from two roots, wherevelameans sail and cara - expensive. Moreover, both in Latin and in Italian. That is, it turns out expensive sailboat, valuable sailboat(or something like that).

By the way, our word ship was borrowed from the word caravel

See for yourself: / his. / carabela = ship

Typical design of a caravel

Light single-deck vessel. Displacement 50-100 tons, length 15-25 meters, latin sails on slanting yards grotto-masts and mizzen-masts allowed ships to sail steeply into the wind. Only fork The mast usually carried a straight sail. The ship's hull had a keel-to-width ratio of about 3:1, which gave good stability on the high seas. There was no special place for artillery on caravels, so they were not used in military affairs. All weapons are several medium and small guns in the aft superstructure and on the forecastle.

What speed did caravels develop

Caravels allowed to develop top speed up to 12-14 knots (1 knot = 1 mile/hour; 1 nautical mile ~ 1800 meters) or up to approximately 20 km/hour in land measurement. Thus, with a favorable wind, it was possible to overcome 200-300 km per day on a caravel.

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Distance from Canaries to Bahamas is a little over six thousand kilometers. Passed by Columbus in 36 days. Thus, on average, Columbus' caravels covered a distance of ~ 180 km per day.

Seaworthiness of the caravel

Caravels had 2-3 (sometimes 4) masts, designs fok- and grotto- masts made it possible to change slanting latin sails to straight lines and vice versa. ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> With a steep close-hauled, (that is, almost a headwind) and when exploring the coast they maneuvered with Latin sails. With a fair wind on the high seas, straight sails gave more acceleration. Caravels could come close to the shore, and at the same time feel confident on the high seas. Thanks to all these qualities, it was caravels that became the main ships of sea expeditions at the initial stage of the Age of the Great Geographical Discoveries. After all, it was on caravels that Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus and Fernando Magellan made their famous breakthroughs into the unknown.

caravel

Caravels appeared in the 12th century and lasted until about the middle of the 16th century, when they were supplanted by more advanced types of ships. And the caravel itself, after changing the equipment, replacing triangular sails with trapezoidal ones, and also when changing the shape of the hull, was transformed into schooner.

It is known for sure that not a single drawing or drawing of at least one of the ships of the first expedition of Columbus has been preserved. And no one knows what Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria actually looked like. Researchers have tried to reconstruct their appearance and construction from indirect evidence and verbal descriptions. Therefore, everything you read below is conjectural descriptions of ships, autumn 1492.

"Santa Maria" - the flagship of the expedition of Columbus

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Flagship of the flotilla of Christopher Columbus. Strictly speaking, the Santa Maria was not a caravel. It was a three-masted karakka(or in Spanish nao)- a type of cargo ship, approximately 22-25 meters long, 7-8 meters wide, with a displacement of about 120 tons. This single-deck ship could take on board up to 40 crew members and passengers. The sailing equipment of the Santa Maria consisted of five straight sails and a slanting sail on a mizzen mast. The depth of the hold is about 3 meters. In the aft part there was a two-tiered superstructure with cabins for management and storerooms for everything necessary, on the forecastle there was a triangular platform and possibly another superstructure. The armament of the "Santa Maria" consisted of several different-sized cannons that fired stone cannonballs. ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)">
It is known that the Santa Maria crashed on Christmas Day 1492 off the coast of the island of Haiti. The wreckage of the ship was used to build a fortified settlement founded on this site on January 6, 1493. Columbus named the settlement simply "La Navidad" - "Christmas".

To ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> as you already know, not a single authentic image of the ships of the first expedition of Columbus has survived. However, in 1892, in preparation for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, a supposed replica of the Santa Maria was built. In the 20th century, a number of life-size models and floating copies of the Santa Maria were made, some of them of the nao type, and some of them made like caravels. Columbus himself in his journal spoke of the "Santa Maria" both as a caracca and as a caravel. Obviously, there was no strict border between the caracca and the caravel.

What did the caravel "Pinta" look like?

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About the "Pinta" - the second largest ship in the flotilla, the least details are known. Most likely, it was a typical caravel of medium size and parameters, with a displacement of 70-90 tons, it could carry one straight sail on the foremast and mainmast, and oblique on the mizzen.

What was it likecaravel "Nina"

The real name of this ship was “Santa Clara”, and “Nina” was just a nickname for the caravel, either from the Spanish word for “baby”, or from the name of the owner, Juan Nino. ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> Some descriptive information has come down to us about this caravel, which roams everywhere on the Internet, and which should be treated like any unconfirmed data. So: according to some sources, the length of the vessel is 17 meters, the width is 5.5 meters, the draft is about 2 meters, the displacement is 100 tons, the crew is 40 people; according to other sources, the Nina had a displacement of 40-60 tons, all 3 masts had slanting sails. During the expedition, Columbus made a stop at canary islands for repair work on the Pinta, and on the Nina at that time the oblique sails were replaced with the same straight ones as on the Pinta.

« Nina"-" Santa Clara "participated in the second expedition of Columbus to and then went there again, in 1499 to the island of Haiti by itself, as a private person. By all accounts, Columbus's favorite ship.

Maritime terms used in the text:

latin sail

The shape is a right triangle. ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> The upper luff (hypotenuse) is attached to an inclined rail, the front or lower end of which reaches the deck. In the Middle Ages, the Latin sail became widespread due to the ability of a vessel with such a sail to sail very steeply into the wind. Moreover, the driving force in this case was not the wind itself, but wing lift, like an airplane, only the wing, that is, the sail, was not located horizontally, but vertically.

Karakka = nao- just a big sailing ship, more than a caravel. The front sails are straight, the rear ones are oblique.

foremast- the first mast from the bow of the ship.

Main mast- the second mast from the bow of the ship.

mizzen mast- rear mast on 3-4 masted ships with a slanting sail for maneuvers.

Displacement – the amount of water displaced by a floating vessel.

Tank- part of the upper deck from the bow to the first mast.

beidewind– a heading at which the angle between the direction of the wind and the direction of the vessel's movement is less than 90°. The pull of a sail with a badewind is entirely determined by the "lift force".

Shkatorina- any edge of the sail.

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schooner schooner - type sailing ship having at least two masts and slanting sails on all masts. Has many varieties. It was the main ship of the pirates caribbean and coasts of America in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Travelers of the Age of Discovery

Russian travelers and pioneers

Do you remember on what ships Columbus sailed to distant India? For the first time, when you hear the name of these sailboats, you involuntarily exclaim: “How romantic! What are caravels? Actually the name of these medieval courts has a very melodic sound, and outwardly they are very beautiful. Their wooden hulls were often decorated with rich carvings, and the sails fluttering in the wind made them look like winged boats.

Caravel ship: history of origin and etymology

There are many options to explain the origin of this word. According to one of them, the name of these sailboats has Portuguese roots and comes from a diminutive version of the word caravo (sailing ship). But the Italians believe that the caravel ship is named so due to its beauty and elegance, and its name comes from the merger of two Italian words - cara (sweet) and bella (beauty). And there is also a version of the Greek origin, according to which it comes from the word χαραβος (xarabos). From it came the Latin carabus (wicker boat), and the Russian word for “ship”. Of course, the Italian version is the most beautiful and quite close in meaning, because the caravel is actually a very beautiful ship. However, historians tend to believe that the word has precisely Greek roots.

What are caravels?

These ships were common in the 13th-16th centuries. Since in those years Spain and Portugal were considered the largest maritime powers and the main ones belonged to them, they naturally had the most powerful and developed fleets. The main part of the total number of ships of the Spanish flotilla until the 15th century was made up of ships called "caravel" (see photo in the article). Therefore, we associate all the great discoveries of sailors with them, although other sea sailing ships - caracci - participated much more often in the distant voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan, etc. Admit that you almost never heard of caracci, while caravels have always were well-known, and all thanks to their poetic name. Caravel! Beauty, do not say anything. They were two- or three-masted ships with straight or oblique (Latin) sailing weapons. For those who want to know in more detail what caravels are, we can add that they had a special type of hull plating. So, if on other ships the so-called “overlapping” method was adopted, then in these sailboats the boards were laid tightly to each other during sheathing. In addition, a distinctive feature of these ships was a certain ratio of the length of the ship to its width (4:1), the presence of a single deck and a raised stern, thanks to which it was possible to sail with a fair breeze. On caravels, as a rule, there were 3 masts, and triangular sails were attached to inclined yards.

On long voyages on caravels, the teams were larger than usual due to the high mortality among crew members. We needed spares. This post tells how Columbus's caravels were prepared for distant wanderings.

Replica of the Nina, one of Columbus' caravels. Built in 1988 in Bahia (Brazil)
During the construction, technologies of the 15th century were used.
Photo: Mike Baird, 2008, California

We have already learned what advantages the caravel acquired thanks to the Latin sails, low draft, and great maneuverability. But this was not enough for long trips into unknown waters.

The long journey required a large number of drinking water. And for this it was necessary either to explore in advance the sources of fresh water available on the route on the coast, or to have the required supply of drinking water with you.

A long trip, as we noted above, was accompanied by a large mortality among crew members for a variety of reasons, which required the presence of reserve crew members compared to the usual staff of the team.

Unfavorable external conditions during long navigation in unknown waters, with unexpected weather conditions, with limited geographical knowledge, they made very special demands on the maritime qualities of the caravel crew members. There should not be random people.

1. Model of the Nina caravel, as it looked at the beginning of the first expedition of Columbus

And, finally, the design of the caravel, of course, required taking into account the travel route. If sailing along the western coast of Africa was quite successfully carried out on Portuguese caravels with only Latin sails - caravela latina, then the crossing indian ocean and a trip to the American shores, and what’s there, the transition to the Canary Islands, required a change in rigging. On the fore mast, and then on the main mast, they began to put direct sails, retaining the latin ones only on the stern masts. The caravel turned, as we wrote above, into caravela redonda, just such a caravel the Spaniards began to use after the Portuguese. But the use of this or that rigging was not a frozen dogma for sailors. So, two caravels of the Columbus expedition, Niña and Pinta, during the journey repeatedly changed the type of sailing rig on the bow masts from Latin to straight and vice versa. At the beginning of the journey, during a stopover in the Canary Islands, Nina was refitted from a Latina caravel

to the caravel redonda

We can see that a low foremast was added and, like the mainmast, straight sails were placed on it. All the refitting took, as we know from Columbus's diaries, about one week. In the future, the diaries do not mention any problems with Nina's sails, moreover, she went on a second voyage.
It is difficult for us now to reconstruct in detail the design of the hull of the first research caravels. In Spain, the system for measuring the hull of a ship and its carrying capacity was developed only under Philip II (reigned 1556-1598). Only from this era do we receive documentary data on the ship timber used, the size and tonnage of ships. By the way, it should be noted that Spanish shipbuilding documents of that time continued to use Portuguese units of measurement: dedos (1.83 cm), palmos (25.67 cm) and rumos (1.54 m).

To deal with the design of the first caravels, let's turn to other possibilities available to maritime historians. In maritime archeology, there is a method of obtaining data on objects of the past, which involves comparing them with modern traditional objects that have retained the main features of their ancient ancestors. So, in relation to ancient caravels with Latin sails, the modern heir is considered to be a kind of Arabic dhow - sambuk (سنبوك) (or sambuca, as this ship is also called).

4. Photograph of a sambuca taken in 1938. Exhibition in Kuwait 1998

The Naval Museum at Greenwich has a wonderful model of a sambuca used by pearl divers and fishermen in the Persian Gulf.

On each side there were six oarlocks for oars, which indicates that it was a sailing and rowing vessel. Although the oars were used, it seems, only during pearl fishing: cables were attached to their blades, which insured the fishermen during the dive and allowed them to rest between dives.

I was most interested in the design of the sambuco flat transom stern.

In the old descriptions of the first caravels, it is noted that their stern was also flat. However, in the drawings of that era, it is not always possible to see the view of the stern of the vessel, which leads to difficulties in classifying the ships shown in one or another image. However, more questions are raised by works when ships are called caravels, which have quite clearly a round rather than a flat stern. Let us consider as an example the images of caravels from the famous work of Duarte de Armas (an associate of King Manuel I of Portugal) “The Book of Fortresses” (Livro das fortalezas situadas no extremo de Portugal e Castela por Duarte de Armas, escudeiro da Casa do rei D. Manuel I). Its creation is attributed to the period between 1495 and 1521, sometimes tied to a specific date of 1510. The book depicts fortresses on the borders of Portugal with the kingdom of Castile with great care. Let's see, for example, the view of the fortress of Valensa, located on the Minho River. At that time, the river was quite navigable and on it we see several large sea-going ships.

Let's take a closer look at the group of three ships in the foreground

One of them, the larger one, belongs to the nava type (nave, karakka) and in this moment we will not be distracted by it. As for the remaining two, they are usually referred to as caravels. Low profile, no bow superstructure, two masts with Latin sails - typical latin caravels. The forward mast is located far from the bow, as if leaving room for the possible installation of another mast in the bow. How it was done on another ship from the same engraving, on the right side of it

10.

Here, not only a fore mast with a direct sail was set up, but a straight sail was also installed on the main mast, and an additional mizzen mast was placed in the stern - that is, we see the transformation of a caravel-latina into a caravel-redonda.

However, at the moment we will be interested in the vessel from the first group, located in its center. We clearly see that his stern is not flat, but round, like that of a galley. This makes one doubt the legitimacy of classifying this ship as a caravel, as is done in almost all works that study these images. Or should this ship be singled out as an independent subspecies of caravels, distinguished by its constructive and seaworthy qualities.

Caravel - the ship of explorers and adventurers

And if the material was interesting,
Our explorer triumphed,
And a pencil ran quickly in the book.
D. S. Merezhkovsky. Faith

We have already learned what advantages the caravel acquired thanks to the Latin sails, low draft, and great maneuverability. But this was not enough for long trips into unknown waters.

The long journey required a large amount of drinking water. And for this it was necessary either to explore in advance the sources of fresh water available on the route on the coast, or to have the required supply of drinking water with you.

Unfavorable external conditions during a long voyage in unknown waters, under unexpected weather conditions, with limited geographical knowledge, made very special demands on the maritime qualities of the caravel crew members. There should not be random people.

caravel model Nina how it looked at the beginning of the first expedition of Columbus

And, finally, the design of the caravel, of course, required taking into account the travel route. If voyages along the western coast of Africa were quite successfully made on Portuguese caravels with only Latin sails - caravela latina, then crossing the Indian Ocean and going to the American shores, and what’s there, going to the Canary Islands, required a change in rigging. On the fore mast, and then on the main mast, they began to put direct sails, retaining the latin ones only on the stern masts. The caravel turned, as we wrote above, into caravela redonda, it was just such a caravel that the Spaniards began to use after the Portuguese. But the use of this or that rigging was not a frozen dogma for sailors. So, two caravels of the expedition of Columbus, Nina and Pinta during the journey, they repeatedly changed the type of sailing rig on the bow masts from Latin to straight and vice versa. At the beginning of the journey during a stopover in the Canary Islands Nina was re-equipped from caravel latina

(see also at the beginning of the post)

to the caravel redonda

We can see that a low foremast was added and, like the mainmast, straight sails were placed on it. All the refitting took, as we know from Columbus's diaries, about one week. Later in the diaries there are no problems with the sails. Nigny Moreover, she went on a second journey.

It is difficult for us now to reconstruct in detail the design of the hull of the first research caravels. In Spain, the system for measuring the hull of a ship and its carrying capacity was developed only under Philip II (reigned 1556-1598). Only from this era do we receive documentary data on the ship timber used, the size and tonnage of ships. By the way, it should be noted that Spanish shipbuilding documents of that time continued to use Portuguese units of measurement: dedos(1.83 cm), palmos(25.67 cm) and rumos(1.54 m).

To deal with the design of the first caravels, let's turn to other possibilities available to maritime historians. In maritime archeology, there is a method of obtaining data on objects of the past, which involves comparing them with modern traditional objects that have retained the main features of their ancient ancestors. So, in relation to ancient caravels with Latin sails, a variety of Arabic dow – sambuco(سنبوك‎) (or sambuca, as this ship is also called).

Photograph of a sambuca taken in 1938 Exhibition in Kuwait 1998

The Naval Museum at Greenwich has a wonderful model of a sambuca used by pearl divers and fishermen in the Persian Gulf.

I was most interested in the design of the sambuco flat transom stern.

In the old descriptions of the first caravels, it is noted that their stern was also flat. However, in the drawings of that era, it is not always possible to see the view of the stern of the vessel, which leads to difficulties in classifying the ships shown in one or another image. However, more questions are raised by works when ships are called caravels, which have quite clearly a round rather than a flat stern. Let us consider as an example the images of caravels from the famous work of Duarte de Armas (an associate of King Manuel I of Portugal) “The Book of Fortresses” ( Livro das fortalezas situadas no extremo de Portugal e Castela por Duarte de Armas, escudeiro da Casa do rei D. Manuel I). Its creation is attributed to the period between 1495 and 1521, sometimes tied to a specific date of 1510. The book depicts fortresses on the borders of Portugal with the kingdom of Castile with great care. Let's see, for example, the view of the fortress of Valensa, located on the Minho River. At that time, the river was quite navigable and on it we see several large sea-going ships.

Let's take a closer look at the group of three ships in the foreground

One of them, larger, belongs to the type nava (nave, caracca) and at the moment we will not be distracted by it. As for the remaining two, they are usually referred to as caravels. Low profile, no bow superstructure, two masts with latin sails - typical Latin caravels. The forward mast is located far from the bow, as if leaving room for the possible installation of another mast in the bow. How it was done on another ship from the same engraving, on the right side of it

Here not only a fore mast with a straight sail was set up, but a straight sail was also installed on the main mast, and an additional mizzen mast was set up in the stern - i.e. we see the transformation Latin caravels in redonda caravel.

Continue later.