caravel

A sailing vessel with up to four masts developed by the Portuguese in the 15th-c. It had lateen rig sails with long curved spars.

A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable, two or three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for long voyages of exploration beginning in the 15th century. The explorers soon came to prefer smaller carracks of around 100 tons, or the light three-masted Mediterranean lateen-rigged vessels known as caravels.

Because of its smaller size the caravel was able to explore up river in shallow coastal waters. With the lateen sails affixed it was able to go speedily over shallow water and take deep wind, while with the square Atlantic-type sails attached, the caravel was very fast.

Early caravels were usually two-masted boats of around 50 tons with an overall length of between 20–30 m and a high length-to-beam ratio of around 3.5:1 making them very fast and maneuverable. Towards the end of the 15th century the caravel was modified by giving it the same rig as a carrack with a foresail, square mainsail and lateen mizzen but, unlike the unweatherly carrack, the caravel did not have a high forecastle or much of a sterncastle. Santa Maria was a small carrack which served as the flagship, and Pinta and Niña were caravels of around 20 m with a beam of 7 m.