the portuguese invented the caravel or the first ship to be able to sail against the wind.
the portuguese invented the caravel or the first ship to be able to sail against the wind.
who invented the caravel or the first ship to be able to sail against the wind?
the portuguese
when people began to realize that they had specific needs that barchas and barineles were not fulfilling, that is when they started drawing on aspects of the caravel. it was realized that the caravel's shallow draft was good for riverine commerce and that is when they started understanding that the caravel, if adapted properly, would be beneficial for deeper exploration. a windward vessel was a must, so triangular sails that would allow better access to the wind were drawn upon for the revamping of the explorative ship. part of how the portuguese were able to build better ships was by creating hybrids of what they had seen. the caravela latina combined their arab conquests with what iberians had seen in egypt to make a ship that was longer, larger, lighter and more sophisticated than what had ever been used before. a typical caravel was fifty plus tons, twenty to thirty meters in length and six to eight meters in breadth, the lateen sails were rigged on two-thirds tall masts and occasionally no bowsprit. these adjustments made it possible to increase the speed and the crew, but at the expense of cargo space and war capabilities. people learned that what may have been of benefit going up the coast of africa was not useful for atlantic voyages. there was a demand for better technology so the caravela redonda was engineered. it consisted of adding three masts so there would be an increased steering ability, a new rig for ocean sailing and square sails. these improvements made it possible to sail the entire atlantic without as much uncertainty.
iberian ship development, 1400–1600
having been a combination of the carrack and the caravel, the square-rigged caravel was distinguished clearly from both ships by its combined sails (absent in the caravel), with four or more masts, usually three with lateen rigged sails and the fore-mast with two square sails, and by its hull design which was narrower and longer. the square-rigged caravel was proportionally narrower in width and longer than the caravel, distinguished also by the sterncastle, more elongated and usually more projected backwards, and more complex, in two floors or two-deck castle-like, on diagonal gradation in length. it was also distinguished from the caravel by the existence of a lower forecastle and by having a snout or head - a long beak, projecting forward from the bow below the level of the forecastle (both absent in the "lateen" caravel).
square-rigged caravel