possible for navigators to expand the lim-
its of the known world. Medieval ships
were small sailing vessels—some of them
powered by oars—that had a limited range
and were best suited for use along coast-
lines and in river mouths. There were very
different shipbuilding traditions in north-
ern and southern Europe. Squat and wide
ships known as cogs were in use in the At-
lantic Ocean and the North Sea, while in
Genoa and other Mediterranean ports,
rowed galleys and small sailing ships mod-
eled on the Arab dhow were built.
In the late Middle Ages, these two ship
typeswerecombinedinahybridmodel
known as the carrack. This ship, also
known in Spain as thenao, was built in
many European ports in the fifteenth cen-
tury. It employed a larger sail as well as a
bowsprit, a mast extended from the front
of the ship. Castles were raised in the bow
and at the rear of the ship. The carrack
used a rudder built into the stem post,
rather than a rudder steered from the side
of the ship, and adopted the square main-
sail, which had powered the cog and the
longship. From the Arabs shipbuilders bor-
rowed a lateen (triangular) sail that was
rigged to a rear mizzenmast. As ships and
crews grew larger, a third mast was added
as well as a second “topsail” on the main
mast.
Smaller and more maneuverable ships
known as caravels were the key to long-
range exploration. They were first used by
the Portuguese to navigate down the west
coast of Africa, where reefs, tricky currents,
strong desert winds, and superstition had
limited exploration to Cape Bojador, be-
yond which sailors believed the world sim-
ply ended. The caravel was more maneu-
verable than the carrack. It was developed
from the dhows of the Muslim world, with
a long, sloping hull and high, wide poop
deck aft (in the rear). The ship could sail
close to the wind and was extremely buoy-
ant. Caravels could be rigged with square
or lateen sails, depending on the wind con-
ditions, and they could navigate in rivers
and shallow waters, which made them use-
ful for coastal exploration. The caravel
brought the Portuguese as far as the East
Indies and Brazil, and was also used in the
first expedition of Christopher Columbus
to the Western Hemisphere.
The artillery aboard ships transformed
naval warfare, forcing ships to fight longer-
range battles of maneuver and tactics that
replaced the old strategy of simply grap-
pling an enemy ship and trying to board
her for a hand-to-hand fight. The carrack
was used as both cargo vessel and warship;
its gun ports allowed iron and bronze can-
non to be added to the traditional comple-
ment of infantry and archers. The caravel
was not fast enough, however, for good
use as a warship. To meet this purpose, in
the sixteenth century Portuguese and
Spanish shipwrights pioneered the galleon.
The galleon was a carrack turned into a
large gun platform. It was an imposing
ship, with several decks of guns and can-
non firing from the forecastle and aft castle
decks. Most galleons had four masts with
two lateen-rigged masts in the back. Strong
hulls made the ship good for long-distance
campaigns, such as the great fleet of galle-
ons and smaller ships known as the Span-
ish Armada. The galleon had a narrower
profile and a low forecastle, making it ex-
tremely stable, fast, and maneuverable. It
was also less expensive to build than the
carrack. Galleons remained in use for three
centuries both as military and cargo ves-
sels, and were the forerunners of the large
square-rigged, long-distance clipper ships
that came into use in the eighteenth cen-
tury.ships and shipbuilding