The caravel originally emerged as a fishing boat but in the fifteenth century altered slightly to an exploring vessel to be used along the African coast. Eventually it developed into a cargo carrier to be used for maintaining trade between Iberia and the Atlantic islands.[1]It seems to have mainly developed alongside the Spanish and Portuguese explorations and encouraged by the opening of an East Indian sea route. Throughout its European development from 1440 onwards, it became popular and was swiftly adapted to larger cargo vessels, dispatch vessels and even warships.[2] The caravels main advantages were speed and manoeuvrability.[3]
The efficient design of the hull and propulsion system allowed transoceanic voyages to become possible and meant explorers could circumnavigate the globe. The vessel drove the Iberians to the head of maritime power, erupting in a Spanish and Portuguese global divide. As longer voyages were attempted, auxiliary store ships carrying provisions travelled alongside caravels.[4]
Despite the ships importance we have little evidence of its structure. The first geometric drawings and construction specifications date only to the 1570s, however this is much later than the time period of its early European development. Our information and understanding of the caravel is mainly based on supply lists of dockyards, chronicles, the accounts of early explorers, contract specifications, and treatises on navigation and shipbuilding belonging to the sixteenth century.[5] However, there is evidence caravels were certainly available by 1433 as they served the Portuguese crown.[6]
The caravel was originally very useful for riverside and coastal commerce, possibly due to its shallow draft, one of the factors believed to have inspired their adaptations for exploration voyages. Another factor that pushed caravels to the forefront of reconnaissance adaptation was their flexibility to become a windward sailing vessel. The caravels inventive arrangement of a sleek hull, lateen sails, and axial rudder that had been tailored through seagoing trial and error of different regions arguably produced the most efficient sailing machine of the century. However this alteration from single square rigged crafts to those with several fore and aft sails did not emerge with the caravel. The triangular lateen sail was most likely brought from the Indian Ocean to be originally used on small Mediterranean vessels during the seventh century. The caravels advantages meant it was apt for sailing against winds and currents and it was also suitable for using the airs and breezes to steer along shallow coastlines. The Portuguese mariners also learned how to evade tricky currents and headwinds they sailed through on return journeys from the African coasts. They could reach Lisbon on a South-Westerly wind by sailing in a North-Westerly direction into the open sea until the latitude of the Azores was reached. This created a vast semicircular course was called Volta Do Mar Largo, meaning the closer the caravels sailed towards the equator, the longer the north-westerly arm of the Volta became. Although the actual creation and developments of caravels often mistakenly has been attributed to Prince Henry because of his establishment of a centre for cartography and navigation, it was his support and funding of voyages that brought these vessels into the front line of his Christian quest.[7]
Prince Henry may have first observed the caravels after the service at Tangiers in 1437. From 1440 through to 1460, over eighty caravels sailed south into the Atlantic and hardly any other ships are referred to. Our information of the first caravels of exploration is limited, but the evidence we have available suggests the size of the craft could cope with eighteen to a sixty ton burden.[8] Cadamosto claimed that caravels had always been a significant feature of the African enterprise, and they were taking part in raids against areas such as morocco by 1433. However, it has been suggested from the Chronicle of the Conquest of Guinea that caravels had not been used for exploration purposes until 1440. The difference of three years has yet to be explained, however it has been suggested this was a time caravels were being adopted outside of Andalusia and Portugal. This also suggested the original fishing boat had become large enough and travelled far enough afield in sufficient numbers to be noticed as useful, and eventually adopted by other maritime regions such as England, Brittany and Sicily. The period from the 1430s to the 1530s was, therefore, not only an Iberian but a more broadly European century for the caravel.[9]
Columbus’ voyage of 1492 consisted of a fleet which including caravels, which he was constantly improving and adapting the ships design. Vasco Da Gama’s voyage of 1497 also included a caravel. Nao’s were known to accompany caravels during some expeditions, a fleet would not solely consist of Caravels. Due to vessels such as the caravel, discovery and exploration were made possible, and so this eventually led, either accidentally or intentionally, to conquest and the colonisation of new territories. They took part in all four of Columbus’ voyages, from 1492 to 1504, and they served as scout ships in the early East India fleets. [10]
The use of Portuguese lateen caravel throughout African coastal explorations seemed to have highlighted its advantages. It sailed closer to the wind and had a sternpost rudder, unlike the Mediterranean barque, which continued using oars. It also remained a lighter craft than the barinel. It was generally a good sailing ship, although caravels were known to use oars or sweeps. Columbus re-rigged his ship Nina with square sails for the departing journey of 1492. Various eastbound caravels, including those of Vasco Da Gama’s fleet of 1502 sailed using a square rig, and later used lateen sails once they arrived in the Indian Ocean. The lateen rig sometimes had slight drawbacks, a main problem being that tacking required a large crew, and was also sometimes unfavourable during bad weather.[11] These drawbacks of the lateen caravel were noticed by the 1480s.
The design was later adapted to caravels having two square sails on a forward raking fore mast and lateen sails on the vessels three remaining masts. The caravel became a more spacious cargo carrier and a more efficient warship, while maintaining the speed and capacity to sail close to the wind. Saving manpower must also have been a great consideration when adapting the vessels.[12] It was during the hopeful Portuguese search for gold, slaves, ivory, and spices that caravels emerged fully in maritime history.[13]
Despite the caravels success as an exploration vessel, it was not actually designed for this purpose, many serving for common trade fishing, escort ships and patrol ships. Caravels caught fish and then distributed their catch to the markets of Europe. By 1456 heavier caravels were being built at the estuaries of the Lima and the Ave to carry Portuguese fish to the Mediterranean. After the sea route to India had been opened, caravels took spices from Lisbon to Flanders, later shipping gold and pearls from the Americas. They had also served as slave ships. In short, until about 1550 and then again in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century, caravels helped move goods along the lanes of Iberian trade. Caravels also ferried men, horses and supplies to the campaigns of North Africa, from Tangiers in 1437 to the Portuguese conquest of Arzila in 1471. Patrolling Iberian coastal waters and policing the seas were tasks to which caravels were quickly used for, and with great success.[14]
The fast and manoeuvrable caravel became an effective war ship in the later fifteenth century after becoming armed with guns. Finally, caravels, like frigates of later times, were ordered out on several different assignments or when there was requirement for speed.[15]
Cadamosto believed the Portuguese caravels were the best vessels afloat in his day, and their status in the exploration of Africa and the trans-Atlantic supports his opinion. The caravels which Prince Henry sent for trading and exploration along the West African coast were possibly two masted lateen rigged vessels, but soon after, three masted caravels became common, and would have carried square sails for when conditions required. The variations indicate the adaptability of these small vessels. Spanish and Portuguese masters in the later fifteenth century quite commonly altered the rig of their caravels with regards to the work they had to do. They found lateen rig suitable for travelling in and out of estuaries, in the pursuit of ordinary coasting trade and coastal exploration.[16]
Columbus on his first voyage took two caravels with him, the Nina and the Pinta. The Nina was originally lateen rigged and later converted into a Caravela Rodunda during Columbus’ stay in the canaries. The work was completed within a week and must have been acceptable for the Nina never gave any trouble, and was in use again on the second voyage. Caravels were uncommonly small vessels for long ocean passages, and few of the sea commanders of the reconnaissance relied on caravels alone. This may have been due to the uncomfortable nature of Caravels. They had little cabin accommodation, and they could not carry the men, stores, goods, and armament required for long voyages, to destinations where trade as well as exploration was planned. Between the caravel and the bulky carrack stretched a whole range of similar types, and most of the leaders of the reconnaissance preferred vessels between one hundred to three hundred tons. When they could, the explorers sailed in balanced fleets of different vessels, including one or two caravels, which they employed for dispatch carrying, inshore reconnaissance, and other tasks which later admirals would hand over to frigates. This was the development which made the reconnaissance physically possible.[17]
The caravels role as a swift and reliable fleet escort continued even as colonisation of faraway shores required larger transport vessels. The peak of the caravels services seemed to arise at the end of the sixteenth century, and by the mid seventeenth century, the caravel had been substituted by vessels reflecting the requirements of the new era. [18]
No solitary or simple reason explains what set in motion and continued the progression of European exploration, conquest and colonisation which originated around 1400. It was once argued that the Turkish advance in the Middle East blocking the flow of oriental spices through the red sea and the Levant forced Europeans to seek direct access to the source of these luxuries.[19] Some have argued it was Prince Henry of Portugal, who undoubtedly must have at least inspired some of the first Atlantic and African coastal voyages. [20]It has also been suggested that the cause of progression was also down to Mediterranean wealth and skills being drawn into oceanic ventures by the continent reaching a sufficient stage of economic development to enable it to support and fund expansion. [21] Another explanation is that Europe’s population was far greater than the continent was able to support around the 1400s.Overseas ventures were therefore partly the outcome of an urgent search for land and food.[22] It has been argued that the driving force behind the beginnings of Europe’s expansion was a search for the gold and silver needed to redress the bullion shortage that badly affected the continent in the late Middle Ages.[23] Another main argument is the European expansion only occurred when it did because of the caravels emergence. The fact it had several masts and was lateen rigged meant sea men could travel against a head wind. There were also improvements in navigational techniques, notably the observation of the sun and the stars. However, there is evidence of Scandinavian sailing vessels able to cross waters in this windward fashion on their way to and from Iceland, Greenland and North America. Some accounts have also revealed caravels were not always capable with coping with prolonged headwinds. The first oceanic ventures were not, therefore, the outcome of some convenient development in the design, construction and navigation of ships. The pioneer Portuguese ventures were undertaken in whatever craft happened to be available to them, often taking a balanced fleet of several vessels, and only as the voyages progressed were the build and rig of vessels, caravels included, modified to meet the conditions required.[24]
European expansion was therefore a mixture of different motives and causes. Voyages could originate and occur from the determination of an individual, whether Prince Henry or Columbus, to pursue some objective. Discoveries could be accidental, in the case of Columbus and the Americas. One factor that did seem to ensure the growth of the first overseas footholds was the revelations, by Portugal in Asia and by Spain in the Americas, of riches on a grand scale, often freely available. Therefore hope sprang eternal of similar finds elsewhere, while the new lands, including those seemingly less favoured, came to be seen, as the providers of rewards, freedoms and opportunities denied by Europe.[25] Their great success lasted almost a hundred years, until the trend favouring lighter craft began to fade in the 1530s. After a period of disuse, Iberian caravels made a partial comeback in the late sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth century, but outside the Portuguese and Spanish sphere other ships had taken over the caravels function.[26] Overall it cannot be denied; the caravel possessed precisely the characteristics needed in its time.[27]
Bibliography
Parry, John Horace, The Age of Reconaissance, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson: 1963) pp.65-66
Phillips, J.R.S, The Medieval Expansion of Europe, (Oxford University Press:1992)
Scammell, G.V, The First Imperial Age: European Overseas Expansion c.1400-1715, (London: Routledge: 1997) Chapter 2
Smith, Roger.C, Vanguard of empire: ships of exploration in the age of Columbus, (New York: Oxford University Press: 1993) pp.30-37
Unger, Richard, Cogs, Caravels and Galleons, (London: Conway Maritime Press) Chapter 6
[1] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg. 9
[2] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg. 91
[3] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons Pg 92-93
[4] R. Smith, vanguard of the empire, Pg. 32-33
[5] R. Unger, cogs caravels and galleons ,Pg. 91
[6] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons ,Pg. 91
[7] R. Smith, vanguard of the empire Pg. 38
[8]R. Unger, caravels and galleons ,Pg 92-93 cogs
[9] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg 96-97
[10] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons Pg 92-93
[11] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg 92-93
[12] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons Pg 92-93
[13] R. Smith, vanguard of the empire ,Pg. 36-37
[14] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg 94-95
[15] R. Unger, cogs, caravels and galleons, Pg 94-95
[16] J. Parry, the age of reconnaissance Pg. 65
[17] J. Parry, the age of reconnaissance Pg. 66
[18] R. Smith, vanguard of the empire Pg. 34-35
[19] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[20] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[21] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[22] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[23] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[24] G.V.Scammell the first imperial age Chapter 2
[25] G.V.Scammell Chapter 2, the first imperial age
[26] R.Unger, cogs caravels and galleons, Pg. 91
[27] R. Smith, vanguard of the empire, Pg. 30-31
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