Carrack

"Nao" redirects here. For , see NAO.

The Santa Maria at anchor by Andries van Eertvelt, painted c. 1628 shows the famous carrack of Christopher Columbus

A carrack or nao was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in the Mediterranean in the 15th century. It had a high rounded stern with an aftcastle and a forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast.

Carracks were 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. They were the ships in which the Spanish and Portuguese explored the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. In Spanish this type was called carraca or nao, while in Portuguese it was called nau (both of which meant simply "ship"). In French it was nef.

English military carracks were called great ships.

Contents

1 Advantages
2 Famous carracks
3 Carracks in Asia
4 Trivia
5 Additional reading
6 External links

Advantages

The carrack was the high seas beast of burden of choice and has been described as the "perfected transport ship".

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.
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 manouvering, 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.

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

A Portuguese "Nanban" carrack in Nagasaki, Japan, 17th century.

Famous carracks

Santa María — in which Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492.
Mary Rose and Henri Grâce à Dieu — commissioned by Henry VIII - English military carracks like these were often called great ships.
Santa Catarina — which was seized by the Dutch East India Company off Singapore in 1603.
Victoria — the first ship to circumnavigate the globe, from 1519 to 1522. Five Spanish naos left the port of Seville on 11 August 1519 with 243 men. Only the nao Victoria, commanded by Captain Juan Sebastián Elcano, and with only 18 survivors, came back to the same port on 8 September 1522.
Great Michael, a Scottish ship, at one time the largest in Europe.

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. 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 Macao 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 confering exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. 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.

Trivia

The carrack is thought to be the inspiration behind the fictional Carrack-Class Light Cruiser of the Star Wars saga.

Additional reading

The Galleon (1990), Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 0851775662

External links

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

Types of sailing vessels and rigs

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