Life aboard a short ship like the Niña or Pinta would have been absurdly crowded and uncomfortable. Yet the main advantage of the Spanish caravel, namely its compact size, was also its greatest disadvantage. The bulkier Santa Maria, which was a 110-ton cargo ship called a nau, ran aground on Christmas Day 1492 and had to be abandoned. This proved critical when Columbus needed to navigate the shallow island coastlines near modern-day Cuba. Their lightweight design and rounded bottom meant that they rode high in the water. Small caravels like the Niña and Pinta could only carry between 40 and 50 tons and were crewed by fewer than 30 sailors each. The Real Story of Columbus Small Ships Offered Advantages-But Also Discomforts The new position allowed for far greater control. In the 14th-century caravels popular in the Mediterranean, the rudder was still on the side, says Castro, like Viking ships. In addition to their versatile rigging options, 15th-century caravels moved the rudder to the rear center of the ship. That rigging combination made ships like the Niña and the Pinta some of the best sailing vessels of their time. The versatile caravel could speed south along the coast and easily return to shore against the wind.įor Columbus’s maiden journey, he used a Spanish update to the caravel known as the caravela redonda, a three-masted ship where the first two masts were rigged with conventional square sails for open-ocean speed, and a third was rigged with a lateen sail for coastal maneuverability. The lateen-rigged caravels were critical in the Portuguese voyages to sub-Saharan African, where strong coastal winds blow north to south. “You can point the bow of the caravel with an angle of just 20 degrees off the wind and still get enough lift on the outer edge of the sail to propel forward.” “Lateen sails are almost like wings,” says Castro. Luis Filipe Viera de Castro, a nautical archeologist at Texas A&M University, says that the earlier Portuguese caravels, known as the caravela latina, were rigged with lateen (triangular) sails that hung at 45-degree angle to the deck. Though only two of Columbus’s ships ended up being caravels, Isabella’s decree speaks to the popularity of the vessel during the 15th-century “ Age of Discovery.” Starting with Portuguese explorations of the African coast in the mid-1400s, caravels were prized for their sleek, lightweight hull and their uncanny ability to sail into the wind. Caravels Were Cutting Edge in the 15th Century The caravels of Christopher Columbus, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

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