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prettygoodwordTheme week! Various sailing ships, mostly with a Mediterranean connection. Sorta. If you squint. But all ships.
caravel or caravelle (KAR-uh-vel) - n., a type of small, light sailing ship with two to four masts and lateen sails (later sometimes square-rigged on the foremast) used by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 1400s and 1500s.
They started as a deep-sea trading ship but became the preferred ship for long-distance exploration, especially for opening routes for the spice trade -- for trading the larger carrack/nau (of which more anon) was preferred. Columbus liked them: the Niña and Pinta were caravels (the Santa María was a carrack). Here's a model of one that's two-masted lateen-rigged (triangular fore-and-aft sails):
Thanks, WikiMedia!
And here's a drawing from 1502 of a four-masted caravel square-rigged on the foremast:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
First used in the 1520s, from Middle French caravelle, from Old French caruelle/carvelle, from Old Portuguese caravela, a diminutive of cáravo/cárabo, type of small vessel, from Late Latin cārabus, small wicker boat decked with hide, from Ancient Greek kā́rabos, type of light ship, from earlier kā́rabos, kind of beetle, probably a longhorn beetle (or sometimes a kind of crustacean, probably a crayfish).
caravel or caravelle (KAR-uh-vel) - n., a type of small, light sailing ship with two to four masts and lateen sails (later sometimes square-rigged on the foremast) used by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 1400s and 1500s.
They started as a deep-sea trading ship but became the preferred ship for long-distance exploration, especially for opening routes for the spice trade -- for trading the larger carrack/nau (of which more anon) was preferred. Columbus liked them: the Niña and Pinta were caravels (the Santa María was a carrack). Here's a model of one that's two-masted lateen-rigged (triangular fore-and-aft sails):
Thanks, WikiMedia!
And here's a drawing from 1502 of a four-masted caravel square-rigged on the foremast:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
First used in the 1520s, from Middle French caravelle, from Old French caruelle/carvelle, from Old Portuguese caravela, a diminutive of cáravo/cárabo, type of small vessel, from Late Latin cārabus, small wicker boat decked with hide, from Ancient Greek kā́rabos, type of light ship, from earlier kā́rabos, kind of beetle, probably a longhorn beetle (or sometimes a kind of crustacean, probably a crayfish).
