The Santa Maria at anchor by Andries van Eertvelt, painted c. The Santa María was the largest of the three Ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 1628 shows the famous carrack of Christopher Columbus

A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in the Mediterranean in the 15th century. Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts Sailing is the art of controlling a Sailing vessel. By changing the Rigging, Rudder and dagger or centre board a Sailor manages the force It had a high rounded stern with an aftcastle and a forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. The stern is the rear or aft part of a Ship or Boat, technically defined as the area built up over the Sternpost, extending upwards from the Counter An aftcastle is the upper deck of a sailing ship positioned behind the Mizzenmast. Forecastle, also spelled fo'c's'le (ˈfoʊksəl originally meant the upper deck of a Sailing ship, forward of the Foremast. The bowsprit, or boltsprit, of a Sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow It was square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal Spars which are perpendicular or square The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts A lateen (from a la trina, meaning triangular or latin-rig is a triangular Sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast Rigging (from Anglo-Saxon wrigan or wringing, "to clothe" is on Sailboats and Sailing ships the collection of The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical or near vertical Spar, or arrangement of Spars which supports the Sails Large ships have several masts

Carracks were one of the first proper ocean-going ships in Europe; large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and roomy enough to carry provisions for long voyages. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. They were the ships in which the Portuguese and the Spanish explored the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. In Portuguese this type was called nau, while in Spanish it is called carraca or nao (both of which meant simply "ship"). Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. In French it was caraque, caravelle or nef.

Early origins

The word carrack is usually traced back through the medieval European languages to the Arabic, and thence to the Greek κέρκουρος (kerkouros) meaning approximately "lighter (barge)" (literally, "shorn tail", a possible reference to the ship's flat stern). Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly For other uses see Lighter (disambiguation. A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed Barge used to transfer goods to and from moored Its attestation in Greek literature is distributed in two closely related lobes. The first distribution lobe, or area, associates it with certain light and fast merchantmen found near Cyprus and Corfu. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Corfu (Κέρκυρα Kérkyra, ˈkʲe̞ɾkʲiɾa Κέρκυρα or Κόρκυρα Corcyra Corfù is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea The second is an extensive attestation in the Oxyrhynchus corpus, where it seems most frequently to describe the Nile barges of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. Oxyrhynchus (Ὀξύρρυγχος "sharp-nosed" ancient Egyptian Pr-Medjed; Coptic Pemdje; modern Egyptian Arabic Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods Both of these usages may lead back through the Phoenician to the Akkadian kalakku, which denotes a type of river barge. Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Pūt in Ancient Egyptian Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew, and The Akkadian term is assumed to be derived from a Sumerian antecedent. Sumerian ( " native tongue " was the language of ancient Sumer, spoken in Southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC ^[1] A modern reflex of the word is found in Arabic and Turkish kelek "raft; riverboat". Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. ^[2]

The kalakku was a barge with goatskin or bladder floats, which might measure up to 15 m in a square or rectangular form, and which, in its later manifestations, was capable of being poled, dragged, rowed, or even sailed up the Tigris or the Euphrates. ^[3]

The European carrack may have resulted from a fusion of this design, or that of the Phoenician lighter, with that of the Germanic longship when the latter diffused into the Mediterranean. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic Longships, or longboats were ships primarily used by the Scandinavian Vikings and the Saxon people to raid coastal and inland settlements during the European

Advantages

Replica in Croatia

The carrack was the choice high seas beast of burden and has been described as the "perfected transport ship". Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between

• it offered the space for crew, provisions and also cargo.
• they were virtually impregnable to attack from small craft, which was often a problem in the East Indies. The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term often used to refer to the islands of SE Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago
• their ability to carry cargo and provisions made them independent of ports en route, and so they had a longer range using the most efficient route.
• the combination of four sails allowed for a fair degree of flexibility - the large square sails provided propulsion, but were reduced in size during storms. The smaller sails at bow and stern allowed for maneuvering, and the lateen sails allowed for sailing across the wind.
• the stable deck allowed for placement of guns, thus making the vessel an effective gun platform. This fact would greatly assist the Portuguese in convincing non-compliant rulers like the Samoothiri Raja in Asia. Saamoothirippādu or Saamoothiri, anglicised Zamorin, is the used by the Nair rulers of the erstwhile state of Kozhikode (anglicised

However, the large superstructures of these ships made them prone to toppling in strong winds.

A Portuguese "Nanban" carrack in Nagasaki, Japan, 17th century. The Nanban trade ( Japanese: 南蛮貿易 nanban-bōeki, "Southern barbarian trade" or the Nanban trade period ( Japanese: 南蛮貿易時代 ( is the Capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar

Famous carracks

• Great Michael, a Scottish ship, at one time the largest in Europe.
• Mary Rose and Henri Grâce à Dieu — commissioned by Henry VIII - English military carracks like these were often called great ships. The Mary Rose was an English Tudor Carrack warship and one of the first to be able to fire a full Broadside of cannons For other meanings of "Grace-Dieu" see Grace Dieu (disambiguation. Henry VIII (28 June 1491 &ndash 28 January 1547 was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of The rating system of the British Royal Navy was used by the British Royal Navy between the middle of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing
• Grace Dieu — commissioned by Henry V
• Santa Anna — a particularly modern design commissioned by the Knights Hospitaller in 1522 and sometimes hailed as the first armoured ship. See Grace Dieu (disambiguation for other Grace-Dieu especially nautical or HMS Grace Dieu Grace Dieu was the flagship of Henry V of England Henry V (16 September 1386 &ndash 31 August 1422 was one of the most significant English warrior kings of the 15th century Santa Anna was an early 16th Century Carrack of the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St
• Madre de Deus — which was seized by the Navy Royal off Flores Island in 1592 with an enormously valuable cargo. Madre de Deus ( Mother of God; also called Mãe de Deus or in Spanish, Madre de Dios) was a Portuguese ship renowned for The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Flores Island ( pron 'floɾɨʃ is an island of the Azores, a Portuguese Archipelago in the Atlantic ocean.
• Santa Catarina — which was seized by the Dutch East India Company off Singapore in 1603. Santa Catarina was a Portuguese Carrack that was seized by the Dutch East India Company (also known as V The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Singapore
• Santa María — in which Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492. The Santa María was the largest of the three Ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer
• Santo António or St. Anthony, the personal property of King John of Portugal, wrecked off Gunwalloe Bay in 1527, the salvage of whose cargo almost led to a war between Britain and Portugal. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Gunwalloe is a village and Civil parish in the Kerrier district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
• Victoria — the first ship to circumnavigate the globe, from 1519 to 1522. Victoria (or Nao Victoria, as well as Vittoria) was the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world Five Spanish naos left the port of Seville on 11 August 1519 with 243 men. Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation Only the nao Victoria, commanded by Captains Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano, and with only 18 survivors, came back to the same port on 8 September 1522. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães fɨɾˈnɐ̃ũ dɨ mɐgɐˈʎɐ̃ĩʃ Fernando de Magallanes (Spring 1480 &ndash April 27 1521 Mactan Island, Cebu Juan Sebastián del Cano, then Elcano ( Getaria, in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, former Kingdom of Castile, Spain Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz

Carracks in Asia

From around 1515, Portugal had trade exchanges with Goa in India, consisting in 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton and spices in India. Goa ( Konkani: गोंय /ɡɔ̃j/ is India 's smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest in terms of population. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Lisbon (Lisboa liʒˈboɐ is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. Out of these, only one carrack went on to China in order to purchase silk, also in exchange for Portuguese silver.

From the time of the acquisition of Macau in 1557, and their formal recognition as trade partners by the Chinese, the Portuguese Crown started to regulate trade to Japan, by selling to the highest bidder the annual "Captaincy" to Japan, in effect conferring exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan.

During the 16th century the carrack developed into the galleon. A galleon was a large multi-decked Sailing ship used primarily by the nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries

Additional reading

• Kirsch, Peter, The Galleon (1990), Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 0-85177-546-2

External links

• The Development of the Full-Rigged Ship From the Carrack to the Full-Rigger

References

1. ^ Sumerian antecedent
2. ^ Gong, Y. "kalakku: Überlegungen zur Mannigfaltigkeit der Darstellungsweisen desselben Begriffs in der Keilschrift anhand des Beispiels kalakku", Journal of Ancient Civilizations, 5, 1990, 9-24.
3. ^ Sailing a kelek