Caravel ship. Meaning of the word caravel
Caravel
This word reeks of the romance of distant travels. It was on caravels that Christopher Columbus reached the shores of America, and Vasco da Gama circumnavigated Africa and reached India.
What is a caravel? If later the types of sailing ships began to be determined mainly by their sailing equipment, but taking into account the size, then the caravel is more likely the standard size and design of the hull plating.
At that time, ships that essentially had no name, but with a length-to-width ratio of 2 to 1, became widespread. Initially, the term “caravel” characterized, first of all, the type of hull plating. Before this, the “overlapping” method of cladding was more often used, and for caravels the cladding boards were laid close to each other. This method was known earlier, but its invention is attributed to a shipbuilder from Brittany named Julian, who called this method “carvel” or “craveel”. The name of the skin extended to the name of the type of vessel. Another feature besides the planking was the length to width ratio, the width being a quarter of the length, and the presence of only one deck. And the raised stern completed the appearance of the caravel, which made it possible to sail with a fair wind, when the waves, one after another, “caught up” with the ship.
The sailing rig of caravels, as a rule, was oblique (latinos), i.e. a triangular sail was located on an inclined yard. As a rule, there were three masts. The classic caravel for these reasons was the Niña, one of Columbus's three caravels. The famous "Santa Maria" was already the next step in development, and this type of ship was already called "caracca".
Oblique sailing rigs made it possible to sail at sharp angles to the wind, incl. and oncoming, and the small length-to-width ratio, combined with oblique armament, made these ships very maneuverable, which was an undoubted advantage when exploring unfamiliar shores.
The caravels, as a rule, did not carry artillery weapons; the size of the cannons did not allow for them to be placed on the deck, so if there were any, they were located in the stern. Only small ones were used, either cannons or large muskets, called falconets, on swivel trestles, in the bow of the ship, one on each side. The next technological innovation tested on caravels was the bowsprit, an inclined yard located on the bow of the ship and which made it possible to deploy either oblique triangular sails (jibs) or a small straight sail, which increased the controllability of the ship in a tailwind.
The logical development of this type of vessel was the replacement of the slanting sail on the foremast closest to the bow with a straight one. And as a further development, the replacement of the second sail on the main mast (middle) is also on the straight line. This, by the way, is what Christopher Columbus did with the Niña, initially armed only with oblique sails, during his first stop at Azores, before the “jump” across the Atlantic. His third caravel, “Pinta,” already carried just such sailing weapons.
And the continuation of the logic of the development of the caravel is the carakka, a “classic of the genre” - “Santa Maria” by Columbus. The two front masts already constantly carry straight sails, the aft superstructure already has up to six decks (sometimes it was made collapsible). If the size allowed, there were four masts and the last two carried oblique sails. But with all this, the karakka retained all the best features of the caravel with larger dimensions and, accordingly, greater carrying capacity.
It was on these ships that all the great geographical discoveries were made, the “tail” of this era and its share of glory, the further development of the ideas of the caravel and carrack - galleon, characterized mainly by the fact that there were already two decks along the entire length of the ship. Artillery weapons were installed on the lower deck and fired through special embrasures, covered with lids in the stowed position.
It only remains to add that the main contribution to the creation of this type of vessel such as the caravel and karakka was made by the Portuguese, which for a long time determined their dominance in sea communications.
Caravel (nao)- a ship widely known in the history of navigation. On such ships Christopher Columbus And Vasco da Gama crossed the ocean. The seaworthiness of the caravel, compared to the ships that existed at that time, was significantly higher. Their speed reached 14-15 knots. According to one 15th century sailor “the caravels maneuvered perfectly, turning to the wind with one side or the other, as if they had oars”. Of particular importance was the lightness and maneuverability of caravels in ocean voyages off unknown and poorly surveyed shores.
It is noteworthy that the contemporaries of Columbus and da Gama did not distinguish between caravels and carracks, calling both of them by the word "nao" which simply meant "ship", implying a vessel capable of long sea voyages.
Initially, caravels were light single-deck ships with a displacement of 50-70 tons, a length of 20-30 meters, with three or four masts and lateen sails. Relatively high masts and the presence of a bowsprit made it possible to double the sail area, which naturally affected the increase in speed. The lateen sails on the slanting yards of the main and mizzen masts allowed the ships to sail steeply to the wind. Only the foremast carried a quadrangular straight sail. The design of the caravel's hull was also successfully solved. With a ratio of keel length to greatest width, equal to 3:1, the caravels had good quality - an extremely important quality considering that they had to withstand ferocious Atlantic storms. The plating of this ship was not assembled overlapping, like tiles on the roof of a house, as was done before, but smoothly: one board close to the other. And although this method of plating was known before, nevertheless, the merit of its invention is attributed to a shipbuilder from Brittany named Julian, who called this method " carvel", or " kraveel" The name of the casing later became the name of the type of ship - caravel.
In the second half of the 15th century, the original type of caravels changed significantly. Caravels with straight sails appeared, which were placed on the foremast and mainmast in two tiers. The lateen sail remained only on the mizzen. In the 16th century, they abandoned the hull cross braces, which were installed on top of the outer skin of the side to help the internal frames. These bars slowed down the ship's progress and created splashes in the rough seas. In addition, the hull structure was not strong enough in stormy weather, and sometimes ship crews had to hold it together at sea by tightening the hull with cables. The sailors were constantly busy with repairs - replacing hull boards, caulking seams, repairing rigging and sails, etc.
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Meaning of the word caravel
caravel in the crossword dictionary
caravel
New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.
caravel
and. A sea sailing vessel with high sides, common in the Mediterranean countries in the 13th-17th centuries.
Caravel
(Italian: caravella), a high-sided sea sailing vessel with one deck, 3≈4 masts and high superstructures at the bow and stern, common in countries Mediterranean Sea(Italy, then Spain, Portugal) in the 13th–17th centuries. From the 15th century they made ocean voyages on K.; in 1492, the flotilla of Canada under the command of Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama (see Gama) sailed from Europe to India on Canada.
Wikipedia
Caravel
Caravel- a type of sailing ship common in Europe, especially in Portugal and Spain, in the second half of the 15th - early 16th centuries. One of the first and most famous type of ships with which the era of the Great began geographical discoveries.
The image of a caravel is usually represented by a two- or three-masted ship with an oblique lateen sail ( caravel latina). Although direct sailing rigs were often used on caravels ( caravel redonda).
Thanks to its poetic name, the caravel is associated with all medieval ocean voyages and discoveries of new lands, thereby undeservedly displacing the carracks, which were more suitable for sea voyages and more common at that time. Although caravels did participate in ocean voyages, this was during the early stages of the Age of Discovery, during the first Portuguese expeditions along the West African coast. Later, caravels played a secondary role in squadrons consisting of carracks, including in the campaigns of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan.
Caravel (disambiguation)
Caravel- medium-sized merchant sailing ship
Caravel (electrophone)
"Caravel"- a series of Soviet electrophones produced in the 1970s - 1980s.
They differ from other brands of Soviet electrophones in that they are made in a desktop-wall design, that is, if the owner wishes, they can be placed not only on the table, but also on the wall, similar to acoustic systems and subscriber loudspeakers. __TOC__ The series includes three models:
Caravel (press center and sailing flotilla)
"Caravel"- a press center and sailing flotilla in Yekaterinburg, created on July 2, 1961 by the writer V.P. Krapivin and a group of children.
In 1965, the magazine Pioneer took over the patronage of Caravella. The main directions of "Caravelle" are maritime affairs, journalism, fencing, and naval history. Previously, the detachment had the status of a pioneer squad, a press center and a sailing flotilla of the Pioneer magazine. V.P. Krapivin led the detachment for more than thirty years, and at the present time the wife of the writer’s son, Larisa Krapivin, is at the head of “Caravelle”. Squad motto: “Tamborileros, adelante!”(in Spanish - "Drummers, go!")
Examples of the use of the word caravel in literature.
The Demon's second mate has connected his entire life with the sea, but only a pirate caravel became his second home.
It was possible to change course, but before caravel If they picked up full speed, the islanders, walking at full speed, would overtake them.
Then - small caravel, who did not even enter into battle when she saw the size of the sailboat.
But Pinzón was not there, and the only thing Juan could do was go to bed, not forgetting that his caravel walks in the dark along an unfamiliar shore.
On the seventh day, as the captain believed, caravel arrived in one of the harbors, but not the Canary ones, but...
Islands, islands, islands October 14, all three of them are ours caravels They went out to sea, having first tarred the boats that would be needed to explore small places.
From a distance I saw how he took their hands in his own, then, looking back at the admiral’s cabin, he said something long and persistently to his fellow tribesmen, putting his hands first to his head, then to his heart, and, finally moving away, stopped at the side, in the same way like the rest of the Guanajans, keeping an eye on those running from the nose caravels two foamy jets of water.
The admiral plans to bring all three ashore. caravels, as they are in dire need of renovation.
Our commanders gave the order to remove the sails, and both caravels let's jibe.
Ehaden, without much hesitation, ordered a hole to be made in the bulwark caravels, opposite the barque's unloading hatch.
There are two big ones caravels, whose team is not guards, but guardsmen.
The brigantine maneuvered sharply, intending to pass in front of caravels to then approach from the side of the backboard.
skeleton caravels smashed the stern as if it were made of straw, turned the doomed sailing ship along its axis and laid it on board, after which it rushed on, leaving a foaming white trail behind it.
The very thought that the skeleton of a burnt caravels might return to finish the job he started, filled me with horror.
There are no more kings and queens who sent caravels all over the world, but sponsors appeared, distributing millions of dollars.
Do you remember what ships Columbus sailed on to distant India? For the first time, hearing the name of these sailboats, you involuntarily exclaim: “How romantic! What are caravels? In fact, the name of these medieval ships has a very melodic sound, and they are very beautiful in appearance. Their wooden hulls were often decorated with rich carvings, and the sails fluttering in the wind made them look like winged boats.
Caravel ship: history of origin and etymology
There are many options explaining the origin of this word. According to one of them, the name of these sailing ships has Portuguese roots and comes from a diminutive version of the word caravo (sailing ship). But the Italians believe that the caravel ship was named so due to its beauty and elegance, and its name comes from the merger of two Italian words - cara (sweetheart) and bella (beauty). And there is also a version of Greek origin, according to which it comes from the word χαραβος (sarabos). From it came the Latin carabus (wicker boat), as well as the Russian word “ship”. Of course, the Italian version is the most beautiful and quite close in meaning, because a caravel is actually a very beautiful ship. However, historians tend to believe that the word has Greek roots.
What are caravels?
These ships were common in the 13th-16th centuries. Since in those years Spain and Portugal were considered the largest maritime powers and the main ones belonged to them, they naturally had the most powerful and developed flotillas. The bulk of the total number of ships of the Spanish flotilla until the 15th century were ships called “caravel” (see photo in the article). Therefore, we associate all the great discoveries of sailors with them, although other sea sailing ships - carracks - much more often participated in the long journeys of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Magellan and others. Admit that you have heard practically nothing about carracks, while caravels have always were well known, and all thanks to their poetic name. Caravel! Beauty, you can't say anything. They were two- or three-masted ships with straight or oblique (latin) sails. For those who want to know in more detail what caravels are, we can add that they had a special type of hull plating. So, if on other ships the so-called “overlap” method was adopted, then on these sailing ships the planks were laid tightly to each other when sheathing. In addition, a distinctive feature of these ships was a certain ratio of the length of the ship to its width (4:1), the presence of a single deck and a raised stern, thanks to which it was possible to sail with a tailwind. Caravels, as a rule, had 3 masts, and triangular sails were attached to inclined yards.
Caravel - a ship of explorers and adventurers
And if the material was interesting,
Our explorer triumphed,
And the pencil ran quickly in the book.
D. S. Merezhkovsky. Faith
We have already learned what advantages the caravel acquired thanks to lateen sails, shallow draft, and great maneuverability. But this was not enough for long trips into unknown waters.
The long journey required large quantity drinking water. And for this it was necessary either to scout out the sources available on the route in advance fresh water on the shore, or have the required supply of drinking water with you.
A long voyage, as we noted above, was accompanied by high mortality among crew members for a variety of reasons, which required the presence of reserve crew members in comparison with the usual regular crew members.
Unfavorable external conditions during long-term navigation in unknown waters, with unexpected weather conditions, with limited geographical knowledge, made very special demands on the seamanship of the caravel crew members. There shouldn't be random people there.
Caravel model Niña what it looked like at the beginning of Columbus's first expedition
And finally, the design of the caravel, of course, required taking into account the travel route. If swimming along western shores Africa were quite successfully sailed on Portuguese caravels with only lateen sails - caravela latina, then the intersection Indian Ocean and the trip to the American shores, and what’s more, the transition to the Canary Islands, required a change in rigging. They began to install straight sails on the foremast, and then on the mainmast, retaining the lateen sails only on the stern masts. The caravel turned, as we wrote above, into caravela redonda, it was precisely this kind of caravel that the Spaniards began to use, following the Portuguese. But the use of this or that rigging was not a frozen dogma for the sailors. So, two caravels of Columbus's expedition, Nina And Pinta During the trip, the type of sailing rig on the bow masts was repeatedly changed from Latin to straight and back. At the beginning of the trip during a stop at Canary Islands Niña was converted from a caravel Latina
(see also at the beginning of the post)
to the caravel redonda
We can see that a low foremast was added and straight sails were placed on it, as on the mainmast. All re-equipment work took, as we know from Columbus's diaries, about one week. Subsequently, the diaries do not indicate any problems with the sails Niñi Moreover, she went on a second trip.
It is now difficult for us to reconstruct in detail the design of the hull of the first research caravels. In Spain, a system for measuring the hull of a ship and its carrying capacity was developed only under Philip II (reigned 1556-1598). Only from this era do we receive documentary data on the ship timber used, the size and tonnage of ships. It should be noted, by the way, that Spanish shipbuilding documents of that time continued to use Portuguese units of measurement: dedos(1.83 cm), palmos(25.67 cm) and rumos(1.54 m).
To understand the design of the first caravels, let's turn to other options available to maritime historians. In maritime archeology there is a method of obtaining data about objects of the past, which involves comparing them with modern traditional objects that have retained the main features of their ancient ancestors. So, in relation to ancient caravels with lateen sails, the modern heir is considered to be a variety of Arabic dhow – Sambuca(سنبوك) (or sambuca, as this ship is also called).
Photo of sambuca taken in 1938. Exhibition in Kuwait 1998.
The Naval Museum at Greenwich has a wonderful model of sambuca, which was used by pearl divers and fishermen in the Persian Gulf.
On each side there were six rowlocks for oars, which indicates that it was a sailing and rowing vessel. Although the oars were used, it seems, only during pearl fishing: cables were attached to their blades, which insured the fishermen during the dive and allowed them to rest between dives.
What interested me most in the Sambuca design was the flat transom stern.
In ancient descriptions of the first caravels it is noted that their stern was flat. However, in the drawings of that era it is not always possible to see the view of the stern of the ship, which leads to difficulties in classifying the ships shown in a particular image. However, more questions are raised by works when ships that have a clearly round rather than flat stern are called caravels. Let us consider, as an example, images of caravels from the famous work of Duarte de Armas (an associate of King Manuel I of Portugal) “The Book of Fortresses” ( Livro das fortalezas situadas no extremo de Portugal e Castela por Duarte de Armas, escudeiro da Casa do rei D. Manuel I). Its creation dates back to the period between 1495 and 1521, sometimes tied to a specific date of 1510. The book depicts with great care the fortresses on the borders of Portugal with the kingdom of Castile. Let's look, for example, at the view of the Valence fortress, located on the Minho River. At that time the river was quite navigable and on it we see several large seagoing ships.
Let's take a closer look at the group of three ships in the foreground
One of them, the larger one, belongs to the type Nava (nave, karakka) and in at the moment We won’t be distracted by it. As for the remaining two, they are usually classified as caravels. Low profile, lack of bow superstructure, two masts with lateen sails - typical Latin caravels. The forward mast is located far from the bow, as if leaving room for the possible installation of another mast in the bow. How it was done on another ship from the same engraving, from its right side
Here, not only is the foremast with a straight sail installed, but a straight sail is also installed on the mainmast, and an additional mizzen mast is installed in the stern - i.e. we see the transformation Latin caravels V caravel redonda.
However, at the moment we will be interested in the ship from the first group, located in its center. We clearly see that its stern is not flat, but round, like a galley. This casts doubt on the legitimacy of classifying this ship as a caravel, as is done in almost all works that study these images. Or should this ship be distinguished as an independent subspecies of caravels, distinguished by its design and seaworthiness.
We'll continue later.
