View source for Carrack

{{Short description|14th–18th century masted sailing ship}}
{{distinguish|Karak (disambiguation){{!}}Karak}}
{{for multi|the rocks off the Cornish coast|The Carracks|the musician|Paul Carrack}}

[[File:Portuguese Carracks off a Rocky Coast.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Portuguese carrack [[Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai]] and other ships, painting by [[Joachim Patinir]]. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-12197 | title=Portuguese Carracks off a Rocky Coast &#124; Royal Museums Greenwich }}</ref> The voyage of [[Infante|Infanta]] [[Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy|Beatriz]], second daughter of King [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel of Portugal]], to Villefranche for her marriage to Charles III, Duke of Savoy, in 1521.]]
[[File:Medieval carrack - detail by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.jpg|thumb|{{Circa|1558}} painting of a large carrack attributed to [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]]]]

A '''carrack''' ({{Langx|pt|nau}}; {{Langx|es|nao}}; {{Langx|ca|carraca}}) is a three- or four-[[Mast (sailing)|masted]] ocean-going [[sailing ship]] that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in [[Portugal]] and [[Spain]]. Evolving from the single-masted [[Cog (ship)|cog]], the carrack was first used for European trade from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and quickly found use with the newly found wealth of the trade between Europe and Africa and then the trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas. In their most advanced forms, they were used by the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] and [[Spaniards]] for trade between Europe, Africa and Asia starting in the late 15th century, before being gradually superseded in the late 16th and early 17th centuries by the [[galleon]].

In its most developed form, the carrack was a [[Carvel (boat building)|carvel-built]] ocean-going ship: large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and capacious enough to carry a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. The later carracks were [[square-rigged]] on the [[foremast]] and [[mainmast]] and [[lateen]]-[[rigging|rigged]] on the [[mizzenmast]]. They had a high rounded [[stern]] with [[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.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Shipwrecks |first=A. |last=Konstam |year=2002 |location=New York | publisher=Lyons Press |pages=77–79 |isbn=1-58574-620-7}}</ref>[[File:Vila do Conde 2018 (9).jpg|thumb|Replica of a small 15th-century or 16th-century carrack at [[Vila do Conde]], Portugal]]

==Name==
[[File:Galleys and carracks in battle.jpg|thumb|Naval battle involving carracks and galleys]]
English ''carrack'' was loaned in the late 14th century, via Old French ''caraque'', from ''carraca'', a term for a large, square-rigged sailing vessel used in Spanish, Italian and Middle Latin.

These ships were called ''carraca'' in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Genoese language|Genoese]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], ''caraque'' or ''nef'' in [[French language|French]], and ''kraak'' in [[Dutch language|Dutch]].

The origin of the term ''carraca'' is unclear, perhaps from Arabic ''qaraqir'' "merchant ship", itself of unknown origin (maybe from Latin ''carricare'' "to load a car" or Greek ''καρκαρίς ''"load of timber") or the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] [http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%88%D8%B1/ القُرْقُورُ] (''al-qurqoor'') and from thence to the [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|κέρκουρος}} (''kerkouros'') meaning approximately [[lighter (barge)|"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 [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] [[pharaoh]]s. Both of these usages may lead back through the [[Phoenician languages|Phoenician]] to the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''kalakku'', which denotes a type of river barge. The Akkadian term is assumed to be derived from a [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] antecedent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bosworth |first1=C. Edmund |title=Some remarks on the terminology of irrigation practices and hydraulic constructions in the eastern Arab and Iranian worlds in the third-fifth centuries A.H.|journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |date=1991 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=78–85 |doi=10.1093/jis/2.1.78}}</ref> A modern reflex of the word is found in Arabic and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''kelek'' "raft; riverboat".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gong |first= Y |title= kalakku: Überlegungen zur Mannigfaltigkeit der Darstellungsweisen desselben Begriffs in der Keilschrift anhand des Beispiels kalakku | journal =[[Journal of Ancient Civilizations]]|volume=5 |year=1990 |pages=9–24 |issn=1004-9371 }}</ref>
[[File:Four-master and Two Three-masters Anchored near a Fortified Island from The Sailing Vessels MET DP102238.jpg|thumb|Three- and four-masted carracks]]

== Origins ==
[[File:Portuguese Nau.png|thumb|16th-century depiction of a Portuguese ''nau'']]
By the [[Late Middle Ages]], the [[Cog (ship)|cog]] and cog-like square-rigged vessels equipped with a [[rudder]] at the [[stern]], were widely used along the coasts of Europe, from the Mediterranean, to the Baltic. Given the conditions of the Mediterranean, [[galley]] type vessels were extensively used there, as were various two masted vessels, including the [[caravel]]s with their lateen sails. These and similar ship types were familiar to Portuguese navigators and shipwrights. As the Portuguese and Spaniards gradually extended their trade ever further south along Africa's Atlantic coast and islands during the 15th century, they needed larger, more durable and more advanced sailing ships for their long oceanic ventures. Gradually, they developed their own models of oceanic carracks from a fusion and modification of aspects of the ship types they knew operating in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean, generalizing their use in the end of the century for inter-oceanic travel with a more advanced form of sail rigging that allowed much improved sailing characteristics in the heavy winds and waves of the Atlantic Ocean and a hull shape and size that permitted larger cargoes. In addition to the average tonnage naus, some naus (carracks) were also built in the reign of [[John II of Portugal]], but were widespread only after the turn of the century. The Portuguese carracks were usually very large ships for their time, often over 1000 tons [[Displacement (ship)|displacement]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Braudel |first=F |title=The Structures of Everyday Life |url=https://archive.org/details/structuresofever01brau |url-access=registration |year=1979 | page=[https://archive.org/details/structuresofever01brau/page/423 423] |publisher=Harper & Row | isbn=0060148454}}</ref> and having the future naus of the [[Portuguese India Armadas|India run]] and of the China and Japan trade, also other new types of design.

A typical three-masted carrack such as the [[São Gabriel (ship)|''São Gabriel'']] had six sails: bowsprit, foresail, mainsail, mizzensail and two topsails.
[[File:Trading ship in Dubrovnik.JPG|thumb|Replica of ''Dubrovačka karaka'' (Dubrovnik Carrack), used between the 14th and the 17th century for cargo transport in the [[Republic of Ragusa]] (present-day [[Croatia]])]]
In the [[Republic of Ragusa]], a kind of a three or four masted carrack called ''Dubrovačka karaka'' (Dubrovnik Carrack) was used between the 14th and the 17th century for cargo transport.

In the middle of the 16th century, the first [[galleon]]s were developed from the carrack. The galleon design came to replace that of the carrack although carracks were still in use as late as the middle of the 17th century due to their larger cargo capacity.

== In Asia ==
Starting in 1498, Portugal initiated for the first time direct and regular exchanges between Europe and India—and the rest of Asia thereafter—through the [[Cape Route]], a voyage that required the use of more substantial vessels, such as carracks, due to its unprecedented duration, about six months.

On average, four carracks connected Lisbon to [[Portuguese India|Goa]] carrying gold to purchase spices and other exotic items, but mainly pepper. From Goa, one carrack went on to [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]] in order to purchase silks. Starting in 1541, the Portuguese began trading with Japan, exchanging Chinese silk for Japanese silver; in 1550 the Portuguese Crown started to regulate [[Nanban trade|trade]] to [[Japan]], by leasing the annual "captaincy" to Japan to the highest bidder at Goa, in effect conferring exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. In 1557 the Portuguese acquired [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]] to develop this trade in partnership with the Chinese. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited by the rulers of Japan on the grounds that the ships were smuggling Catholic priests into the country. The Japanese called Portuguese carracks "[[Black Ships]]" (''kurofune''), referring to the colour of the ship's hulls. This term would eventually come to refer to any Western vessel, not just Portuguese.

[[File:Ottoman Barca from Piri Reis' Kitab-ı Bahriye.jpg|thumb|[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] ''barca'' from [[Piri Reis]]' map]]
The Islamic world also built and used carracks, or at least carrack-like ships, in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. A picture of an Ottoman ''barca'' on Piri Reis' map shows a deep-hulled ship with a tall forecastle and a lateen sail on the mizzenmast.<ref name=":22" />{{rp|329–330}} The ''harraqa'' (Saracen: ''karaque'') was a type of ship used to hurl explosives or inflammable materials (firebomb in earthenware pots, [[naphtha]], fire arrows). From the context of Islamic texts, there are two types of ''harraqa'': The cargo ship and the smaller longship (galley-like) that was used for fighting. It is unclear whether the nomenclature ''harraqa'' has a connection with European ''carraca'' (carrack), or whether one influences the other. One Muslim ''harraqa'' named ''Mogarbina'' was captured by the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of St. John]] in 1507 from the Ottoman Turks and renamed ''Santa Maria''.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Agius |first=Dionisius A. |title=Classic Ships of Islam: From Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean |publisher=Brill Academic Pub |year=2007 |isbn=978-9004277854}}</ref>{{rp|343–348}} Gujarati ships are usually called ''naos'' (carracks) by the Portuguese. Gujarati ''naos'' operated between Malacca and the Red Sea, and were often larger than Portuguese carracks. The [[Bengalis]] also used carracks, sometimes called ''naos mauriscas'' (Moorish carracks) by the Portuguese. Arabs merchants of Mecca apparently used carracks too, since [[Duarte Barbosa]] noted that the Bengali people have "great ''naos'' after the fashion of Mecca".<ref name=":2">Manguin, Pierre-Yves. 2012. "Asian shipbuilding traditions in the Indian Ocean at the dawn of European expansion", in: Om Prakash and D. P. Chattopadhyaya (eds), ''History of science, philosophy, and culture in Indian Civilization'', Volume III, Part 7: The trading world of the Indian Ocean, 1500–1800, pp. 597–629. Delhi, Chennai, Chandigarh: Pearson.{{ISBN?}}</ref>{{rp|605–606, 610}}

== Famous carracks ==
* [[Santa María (ship)|''Santa María'']], in which [[Christopher Columbus]] made his first voyage to America in 1492.
* [[Gribshunden]], flagship of the Danish-Norwegian King Hans, built in the Low Countries 1485 and served the Danish-Norwegian crown until sinking in June 1495.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Foley |first=Brendan |date=2024-01-31 |title=Interim Report on Gribshunden (1495) Excavations: 2019–2021 |journal=Acta Archaeologica |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=132–145 |doi=10.1163/16000390-09401052 |issn=0065-101X|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hansson |first1=Anton |last2=Linderson |first2=Hans |last3=Foley |first3=Brendan |date=August 2021 |title=The Danish royal flagship gribshunden – Dendrochronology on a late medieval carvel sunk in the Baltic Sea |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2021.125861 |journal=Dendrochronologia |volume=68 |pages=125861 |doi=10.1016/j.dendro.2021.125861 |bibcode=2021Dendr..6825861H |issn=1125-7865}}</ref>
* [[São Gabriel (ship)|''São Gabriel'']], flagship of [[Vasco da Gama]], in the 1497 Portuguese expedition from Europe to India by circumnavigating Africa.
* ''[[Flor de la Mar|Flor do Mar]]'' or ''Flor de la Mar'', as it was called, served over nine years in the [[Indian Ocean]], sinking in 1512 with [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] after the [[Capture of Malacca (1511)|conquest of Malacca]] with a huge booty, making it one of the legendary lost treasures.
* [[Victoria (ship)|''Victoria'']], the first ship in history to circumnavigate the globe (1519 to 1522), and the only survivor of [[Armada de Molucca|Magellan's expedition]] for Spain.
* ''[[La Dauphine]]'', [[Giovanni da Verrazzano|Verrazzano]]'s ship to explore the Atlantic coast of North America in 1524.
* ''[[Grande Hermine]]'', in which [[Jacques Cartier]] first navigated the [[Saint Lawrence River]] in 1535. The first European ship to sail on this river past the Gulf.
* ''Santo António'', or ''St. Anthony'', the personal property of King [[John III of Portugal]], wrecked off [[Gunwalloe]] Bay in 1527, the salvage of whose cargo almost led to a war between England and Portugal.
* ''[[Great Michael]]'', a Scottish ship, at one time the largest in Europe.
* ''[[Mary Rose]]'', ''[[Henri Grâce à Dieu]]'' and ''[[Peter Pomegranate]]'', built during the reign of King [[Henry VIII|Henry VIII of England]] — English military carracks like these were often called [[great ship]]s.
* ''[[Grace Dieu (ship)|Grace Dieu]]'', commissioned by King [[Henry V of England]]. One of the largest ships in the world at the time.
* ''[[Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai]]'', a war ship built in [[Portuguese India|India]] by the Portuguese
* ''[[Santa Anna (1522 ship)|Santa Anna]]'', a particularly modern design commissioned by the [[Knights Hospitaller]] in 1522 and sometimes hailed as the first armoured ship.
* ''[[Jesus of Lübeck]]'', chartered to a group of merchants in 1563 by Queen [[Elizabeth I|Elizabeth I of England]]. ''Jesus of Lübeck'' became involved in the Atlantic slave trade under [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]].
* ''[[Madre de Deus]]'', built in Lisbon during 1589, she was one of the world's largest ships. She was [[Battle of Flores (1592)|captured by the English]] off [[Flores Island (Azores)|Flores Island]] in 1592 with an enormously valuable cargo from the [[East Indies]] that is still considered the second-largest treasure ever captured. 
* ''[[Cinco Chagas]]'', presumed to have been the largest and richest ship to ever sail to and from the Indies until it exploded and sank at the [[action of Faial]] in 1594. 
* [[Santa Catarina (ship)|''Santa Catarina'']], Portuguese carrack which was seized by the [[Dutch East India Company]] off [[Singapore]] in 1603.
* ''[[Nossa Senhora da Graça incident|Nossa Senhora da Graça]]'', Portuguese carrack sunk in a Japanese attack near Nagasaki in 1610
* ''[[Peter von Danzig (ship)|Peter von Danzig]]'', ship of the [[Hanseatic League]] in 1460s–1470s.
*''La Gran Carracca'', the ship of the [[Knights Hospitaller|Order of St. John]] during their rule over [[Malta]].<ref name="cassar">{{cite journal|last1=Cassar Pullicino|first1=Joseph|title=The Order of St. John in Maltese folk-memory|journal=Scientia|date=October–December 1949|volume=15|issue=4|page=174|url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Scientia%20(Malta)/Scientia.%2015(1949)4(Oct.-Dec.)/01.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417173522/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Scientia%20%28Malta%29/Scientia.%2015%281949%294%28Oct.-Dec.%29/01.pdf|archive-date=17 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*''[[Bom Jesus (ship)|Bom Jesus]]'', a Portuguese ship that disappeared in 1533 after sailing from Lisbon. The well preserved shipwreck was discovered in 2008 on the coast of Namibia, along with its cargo of assorted copper ingots, elephant ivory and over 2000 gold and silver coins.

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200" style="float:left;">
File:Holbein - Ausfahrendes Schiff.png|Small 16th-century carrack
File:Frol de la mar in roteiro de malaca.jpeg|Famous Portuguese nau ''Flor de la Mar'' (launched in 1501 or 1502), in the 16th-century "Roteiro de Malaca"
File:NaoVictoria.JPG|A [[Museo Nao Victoria|replica]] of [[Victoria (ship)|''Nao Victoria'']], in 1522 the first ship to circumnavigate the globe and the only Magellan ship to return
File:Gustav Adolf Closs - Die Schiffe des Columbus - 1892.jpg|''Columbus' Ships'' (G.A. Closs, 1892): the ''Santa Maria'' and ''Pinta'' are shown as carracks; the ''Niña'' (left) as a caravel.
File:Carrack Madre de Deus.jpg|Model of the carrack ''[[Madre de Deus]]'', in the [[Maritime Museum (Lisbon)|Maritime Museum]], Lisbon. Built based on another design, later in Portugal (1589), she was one of the largest ship in the world in her time. She had seven decks.
File:Carrack 1565 (cropped).jpg|Portuguese carrack, as depicted in a map made in 1565
File:NanbanCarrack-Enhanced.jpg|Japanese depiction of a Portuguese carrack, dubbed ''kurofune'' (black ship)
File:Fustas, Nau Indiana Piroga, Nau de Meca & Nau de Rumes.jpg|Carracks of the Indian Ocean: Indian carrack "Piroga" — Carrack of Mecca — Carrack of Rumes (Ottoman)
File:A four-masted Turkish warship, Johannes Lewenklau, 1586.jpg|A four-masted Turkish carrack, 1586
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Popular culture==
The Italian word ''caracca'' and [[Morphological derivation|derivative]] words are popularly used in reference to a cumbersome individual, to an old vessel, or to a vehicle in a very bad condition.<ref name="cassar"/>
The Portuguese form of "carrack", ''nau'', is used as its unique unit in the ''[[Civilization V]]'' and ''[[Civilization VI]]'' strategy game.

== See also ==
{{portal|Oceans}}
* [[Medieval ships]]
* [[Junk (ship)|Chinese junk ship]]
* [[Jong (ship)|Javanese jong]]
* [[Baghlah|Arabs baghlah]]
* [[Portuguese India Armadas]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Kirsch |first=Peter |title=The Galleon |year=1990 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |isbn=0-85177-546-2 }}
* {{cite book |year=2008 |first=V. Sankaran |last=Nair |title=Kerala Coast: A Byway in History. (Carrack: Word Lore) |location=Trivandrum |publisher=Folio |isbn=978-81-906028-1-5 }}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|carrack}}
*{{Commons category-inline|Carracks}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120117054510/http://in-arch.net/Sqrigg/squrig.html The Development of the Square-Rigged Ship: ''from the carrack to the full-rigger'']
* [http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/86071/Wells.pdf Computer modeling of a Portuguese carrack]
* [https://www.absolute-croatia.com/dubrovnik/attractions/karaka ''Dubrovačka karaka'' (Dubrovnik Carrack) – a kind of a three or four masted carrack used between the 14th and the 17th century for cargo transport in the Republic of Ragusa]
* [https://tehnika.lzmk.hr/karaka/ Carrack (karaka) – a large three-masted cargo sailing ship in the 14th–17th centuries]

{{Sailing vessels and rigs}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Age of Sail ships]]
[[Category:Exploration ships]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Portugal]]
[[Category:Merchant sailing ship types]]
[[Category:Portuguese inventions]]
[[Category:Ship designs of the Spanish Empire]]
[[Category:Economy of the Republic of Ragusa]]
[[Category:History of Dubrovnik]]
[[Category:14th-century ships]]
[[Category:15th-century ships]]
[[Category:16th-century ships]]
[[Category:17th-century ships]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Dubrovnik]]
[[Category:Carracks| ]]