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Carrack


A carrack or naus was a three- or four-masted ocean-going sailing ship and was developed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe. Carracks were first used for European trade from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. In its most advanced forms, it was used by the Portuguese for trade with the African coast and finally with Asia and America from the 15th century into the 17th century.

With linguistic variation, these ships were called carraca or nau in Portuguese, Spanish and Genoese, caraque or nef in French, kraak in Dutch and Flemish. Originally the word carrack meant ship and was used in the Mediterranean for any ship long before the ocean-going carrack was developed in the 15th century. The word possibly derives from the Arab word harraqa, an unrelated type of river barge that first appeared in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the 9th century.

In its most developed form, the carrack was a carvel built ocean-going ship: large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and for a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. The later carracks were square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. They had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. As the predecessor of the galleon, the carrack was one of the most influential ship designs in history; while ships became more specialized in the following centuries, the basic design remained unchanged throughout this period.


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