Everything about Carrack totally explained
A
carrack or
nau 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 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. They were the ships in which the
Portuguese and the
Spanish explored the world in the
15th and
16th centuries. In
Portuguese this type was called
nau, while in Spanish it's called
carraca or
nao (both of which meant simply "ship"). 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). 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. The second is an extensive attestation in the
Oxyrhynchus corpus, where it seems most frequently to describe the Nile barges of the
Ptolemaic pharaohs. Both of these usages may lead back through the
Phoenician to the
Akkadian kalakku, which denotes a type of river barge. The Akkadian term is assumed to be derived from a
Sumerian antecedent. A modern reflex of the word is found in
Arabic and
Turkish kelek "raft; riverboat".
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.
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.
Advantages
The carrack was the choice high seas beast of burden 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'd 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.
However, the large superstructures of these ships made them prone to toppling in strong winds.
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.
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.
Madre de Deus — which was seized by the Navy Royal off Flores Island in 1592 with an enormously valuable cargo.
Santa Catarina — which was seized by the Dutch East India Company off Singapore in 1603.
Santa María — in which Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492.
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.
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.
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 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. 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.
Additional reading
Kirsch, Peter, The Galleon (1990), Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 0-85177-546-2Further Information
Get more info on 'Carrack'.
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