Carrack (three-masted ship)
Carraca (nao de tres palos)
- Date
- c. 1420 (muy aproximado) · confidence low
- Place
- Genoa, Liguria, Italy
- Credited to
- Genoese, Iberian and Flemish shipyards
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A high-sided three-masted ship with square sails on the fore and main masts, a lateen on the mizzen, castles fore and aft and a very large hold. It combined ocean-going strength with cargo capacity and carried the 15th- and 16th-century voyages of exploration.
It was a gradual evolution rather than a dated invention; the first three-masted, mixed-rig examples appear around 1400-1450 in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.
What it led to
- Columbus's Santa María and Magellan's Victoria
- heavy Atlantic cargo traffic
- the evolution toward the galleon