This article is the 736th original article of the "Burning Island Group", author: The Group Lord Wyvern
The full text is 6603 words, with 27 pictures, it takes 18 minutes to read, and it was first published on February 5, 2022.
Early Caravelles were equipped with 2 or 3 masts, while later designs with 4 masts appeared. The captain is only 15-30 meters, the length and width are relatively high, about 3.5:1, the load is about 50 tons, objectively speaking, the data of this ship is not bright, used for the exploration and discovery of a small number of navigators in the early days, but after the establishment of the new route, the emergence of ships with greater load capacity.
Figure 1. Coins unearthed on the Indian peninsula bear the image of the Boita monocoque schooner from about 100 BC (about the end of the Western Han Dynasty).
Some scholars have confirmed that the Caravel sailing ship has Arab ancestry. In the early 13th century, the term "Caravelle" referred to a small boat that was closely associated with a dhow built by Muslims on the Mediterranean coast to adapt to the Atlantic navigation environment. The small boat, called the "Gharib", had sophisticated equipment suitable for shallow water navigation, could be used for fishing and offshore trade, and could also be armed into light warships. Although little is known about the technical details of this Arabian boat, it has shown some distinct progressive features and is very similar to the later Caravelles. Some speculate that the word "Caravel" itself derives from "Gharib".
Before the 15th century, trade along the Mediterranean coast relied mainly on flat-bottomed boats (barge/barca) and balinger/barinels. These cargo ships generally carry a load of 50-200 tons with a sloop fixed sail. But when sailing across the ocean, the ships are unable to face the strong Atlantic ocean winds and currents.
Figure 2. Three-tier paddle sail powered warship of the ancient Greek (Roman) period
Figure 3. The Viking warships that prevailed in the winds and waves of the North Sea were actually a kind of miniaturized paddle sail warships
In northern Europe, because of the existence of the Hanseatic League, there was also a popular pure sail-powered cargo ship, called the Cog, which may have evolved from the Viking warship, generally about 30 meters long, about 8 meters wide, and the total weight was about 100 to 200 tons. It is characterized by the rudder at the very end of the hull, which is generally referred to as the "central rudder of the stern" or "the central rudder". There is only one mast, located in the center of the hull, to open the rectangular sail, suitable for downwind sailing. The overall shape of the hull is more slender to accommodate the strong winds and waves of the North Sea.
Figure 4. Kirk ships, which flourished in the North Sea before the 15th century, used large square single sails, at which time sails had become the main driving force, and the North Sea also became another birthplace of large European sailing ships
At the end of the 15th century, the hanging sails of some Caravelles were changed to resemble Clarke-style bow sails, cross-masts, and Latin masts. The mix of cross-sails and spinnakers increases the speed required for ocean-going voyages. The bow and bow towers are raised to provide the stability needed for ocean voyages. This improvement is known as the cross-sail Caravel (i.e. the round-sailed Caravel, which Iberia traditionally uses to describe the cross-sail in terms of the circle).
Another three- or four-masted sailing vessel that flourished in the Mediterranean in the 15th century was called the Carrack (also translated as the Careck or Clarke, known in Spanish as Nao), and was characterized by a large curved stern and a huge slanted mast at the bow. The front mast and middle mast are equipped with several horizontal sails, and the rear mast is a spinnaker. The Karak was the first ship in European history to be used for ocean voyages, and its huge size was able to remain stable in the sea, and a large amount of internal space could also be placed with enough materials for ocean voyages.
Figure 5. Four-masted Karak type sailing ship, in order to adapt to sea navigation, the bow and stern building have been raised, the two main masts in the center hang large horizontal sails, and the stern mast suspends triangular sails, which combine nautical performance and operational flexibility
The word "carrak" can be traced back to arabic introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, and the Greek word κέρκουρος (kerkouros) (meaning "barge"), which the Portuguese at the time named the newly developed large sailing ship. Around 1300 AD, Europeans began to improve the mainstream nordic ship type Kirk type sailing ship, adding a mast to the kirk ship, the main mast hung a large square sail, and the rear mast hung a triangular sail, which became the prototype of the karak sailing ship.
The combination of cross and vertical sails makes the Karak type sailboat have a strong adaptability, both in the strong winds of the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the Mediterranean changeable trade winds freely controlled, so it was welcomed by the merchants, after continuous strengthening and improvement, the Carrock type sailboat quickly replaced the Kirk type sailboat to become the mainstream type of european ship. Some people also joke that the Carrock sailboat is an enlarged version of the Calville sailboat, and the sailing distance is much higher than the Calville sailing ship or the Kirk boat. In addition, the caravelle has a more streamlined oval hull, while the caracula is more circular.
Figure 6. Small fleet combination at the time of Columbus's discovery of the Americas: the Carrack-type sailing ship Santa Maria and the two Caravel sailing ships Pinta and Nina
At the beginning of the Age of Discovery, the Carac and Caravelles became the main ship types, and in order to facilitate exploration, there was generally a large Carac sailing ship carrying sufficient supplies, plus one or two Caravelles with shallow drafts suitable for exploration in the shallow sea, such as the combination of Columbus Discovery of the Americas: the Carrack-type sailing ship Santa Maria and the two Caravel-type sailing ships "Pinta" and "Nina".
Similar combinations abound:
In August 1487, the Portuguese navigator Bartholmeu Dias led an expedition of 3 ships with the aim of heading south along the west coast of Africa, bypassing Africa and opening a route to India. Dias's flagship was the Caravel schooner São Cristóvão, another Caravel schooner under the command of his brother, the São Pantaleão, and an unknown supply ship (presumably a larger-capacity Karak-type cargo ship). After the expedition set sail, they sailed south along the west coast route of Africa, which the Portuguese were already very familiar with, to reach the last Portuguese stronghold on the African coast, Mina Fort on the Gold Coast. After the fleet entered tropical Africa, the first stone monument was erected.
Figure 7. Woodcut: Dias's fleet consisted of two Caravel sailing ships and a supply ship, and Dias's flagship was also a Caravel sailing ship, the San Cristova
In December 1487, the convoy reached Conceiss bay (present-day Walvis Bay) and, after continuing for some distance, near the present-day Cape of Good Hope, the convoy encountered a storm and was pushed south and away from the coastline. When the storm was over, the Dias fleet sailed eastward but could no longer find the north-south coast of the African continent, so the fleet turned north.
On 3 February 1488, the coastline reappeared, proving that the fleet had successfully bypassed the southernmost tip of the African continent. The Dias fleet reached a bay at the southern tip of Africa, encountered and attacked some local indigenous herders, and named the bay "Shepherd's Bay" (later known as Mossel Bay). Continuing eastward from the bay, the coastline gradually shifted to india in the northeast, so Dias confirmed that he had bypassed all the coasts of the southern tip of the african continent and opened a new route to India.
Figure 8. Lacking supplies and taking too long, Dias's crew refused to continue east-north to discover India, and Dias regrettably never reached India for the rest of his life
On 12 March 1488, the Dias fleet reached the furthest end of the voyage, Kwayhuk near the mouth of the Bushman River, and erected a second stele. Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but his crew refused to move on due to fatigue, and Dias had no choice but to start sailing back. On the way back, he found a promontory near the southern tip of the continent, and since it was the place where the fleet had been stormed, he named it "Storm Horn" and erected a third stone monument.
In December 1488, after a long voyage of 16 months, the Dias fleet returned to the port of Lisbon. Unfortunately, the official report of the expedition has been lost. Originally named "Cape of storms", Dias was renamed "Cape of Good Hope" by King João II of Portugal because this cape represented a beautiful hope for the successful opening of the eastern route.
Figure 9. In 1488 Dias discovered the route of the Cape of Good Hope
Figure 10. Diaz and his main deeds, discovering that the Cape of Good Hope was actually on its return journey
Twelve years later, on 24 May 1500, a group of 13 ships in which Díaz participated encountered a hurricane in the ocean near the Cape of Good Hope, and four boats were overturned by huge waves, including the one under Dias's command– and any harvest was not smooth.
The discovery of the south coast of Africa greatly inspired the Portuguese king João II, but another side effect was that João II gave up the exorbitant price offered by Columbus to the Genoese (now Part Italy) who discovered the New World in the west, and João II had good reasons to refuse, he needed to gather Chinese support to bypass the west coast of Africa to discover India, portugal at that time had a population of only 1.2 million, and on a voyage in 1500 they sent 13 ships and 1200 sailors. The number of people and ships is incomparable to that of Zheng He's fleet, but it already accounts for one-thousandth of Portugal's total population.
Figure 11. Zheng He's artistic paintings of the Western fleet should be dominated by 2,000 sea vessels
Figure 12. The modern restored Zheng He 2,000-material sea vessel is a Fu ship type, with a small square head, a wide flat stern, a virtual tip, and two heads. The building form belongs to the building ship, with 3 floors of high stern steps, 1 floor of long stern building, and 2 floors of short bow building. The ship has three longitudinal platforms on the upper deck (i.e., the main deck), the lower deck and the bottom deck. There are 17 horizontal partitions from the bow to the bow, which constitutes the typical horizontal structure of the wooden sailing ship of the Ming Dynasty, and is divided into various work, life and storage cabins
On 8 July 1497, another Portuguese noble navigator, Vasco da Gama, on the orders of his successor King Manuel I of Portugal (João II died in 1495 at the age of 40, succeeding the king as his cousin), led four small boats totaling more than 170 sailors on a voyage to Explore India, which is believed to have been attended by Dias in order to help with passage to the west coast of Africa. However, there is no record of whether Dias participated in da Gama's expedition throughout the whole process.
Vasco da Gama followed the route that Diaz had discovered the Cape of Good Hope 10 years earlier, and made a winding and winding voyage to the east. The four ships of the fleet were São Gabriel, São Rafael (led by his brother Paulo da Gama), The Caravel sailing Ship Berrio and the supply ship São Maria.
Figure 13. The three main ships of the da Gama fleet were roughly two Caravel galleons and one Carac-type
Figure 14. Vasco da Gama's journey to discover India took up to two years
After nearly four months of voyage and more than 4,500 nautical miles, the da Gama fleet reached St. Helhur's Bay, adjacent to the Cape of Good Hope, and saw a piece of land. The forward will be hit by a terrible storm, the sailors have no intention of continuing their voyage and demand to return to Lisbon, while da Gama insists on moving forward, declaring that he will not give up until India is found. On Christmas Eve, da Gama's fleet finally bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and sailed into the Coast of Africa in the Western Indian Ocean.
On 16 December 1497, da Gama's fleet passed through The Fish River (one of the main tributaries of the north bank of the Orange River) into waters (east African coasts) that were still blank on European nautical records, and the area da Gama next explored was named "Natal" (near Christmas, Natal, which means Christmas in Portuguese, also translated as "new life"), which is also the name of the province in the present-day Republic of South Africa.
Figure 15. It depicts the scene on July 8, 1497, when Vasco da Gama leads his small fleet out of Lisbon and embarks on a new voyage to Discover India
At the end of March 1498, after consuming a large amount of supplies, da Gama, as was customary, sank the supply ships accompanying the voyage and marched lightly with the remaining 3 ships.
On 1 April, the Portuguese arrived at Mombasa, an important port for maritime trade off the coast of East Africa, where the inhabitants were mostly Muslims, suggesting that the Arabs had arrived here early. The inhabitants of the city were unaware of these sudden appearances of Europeans, and the Arabs from the north often came here to do business, and the famous Arab traveler Ibn Battuta mentioned in his travelogue that he arrived here in 1330 (168 years before the fleet of da Gama) and spent a night, and then continued to visit the island city of Kilwa (now Tanzania) further south, and Battuta described Kilwa as "one of the most beautiful and well-built cities in the world", of course, The old Ibn used exaggerated praise for many cities.
Da Gama's arrival in Mombasa is of profound historic significance, as it was the first time in thousands of years that two independent east-west waters had met between two independent east-west seas in thousands of years when the two ends of eurasia were separated by the Asia-Africa Land Bridge. Although there has always been strong maritime trade in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, as we call the Maritime Silk Road, there has never been a record of any eastern navigators circumventing the southern tip of Africa to colonize.
Figure 16. Zheng He's navigation road map to the West, located in the south of India, the country of Guli is Zheng He's main sailing destination, almost every time he goes south will arrive here, but the Emperor Daming obviously does not dare to be interested in official intervention in the mature Indian trade system, the main purpose of Zheng He's fleet is to "publicize the national prestige", "Bud world", so everywhere, must first send gifts, money to open the way, naturally all the way smooth
It is generally believed that Zheng He also arrived in Mombasa around 1418 during his fifth voyage to the West, and the name here is recorded in Chinese historical records as "Slow Eight Sa". If it were not for the Portuguese exhausting their national strength to explore the south, this route does not know how many years it would be buried.
When the Muslim rulers of Mombasa discovered that the uninvited guests were Christian infidels, relations between the two sides deteriorated dramatically, and the unhelpful Da Gama led his fleet away and on 14 April entered another Muslim city to the north, Malindi (Recorded as "Malin", now part of Kenya), and the Malindi rulers expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Portuguese for the purpose of fighting competitors. Not only did he allow da Gama to build small forts in his city for trade and support navigation, but he also gave a big gift: Ahmadiyah ibn Majid, a veteran Arab navigator. Born in Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, the navigator was a well-known navigator of the time, and his navigational guides on the western Indian Ocean are still of some use today.
Figure 17. Painting depicting a scene of vasco da Gama meeting with muslim rulers of Mombasa or Malindi
Figure 18. The second painting depicting the scene of vasco da Gama meeting with the Muslim rulers of Mombasa or Malindi
Figure 19. The third painting depicting the scene of vasco da Gama meeting with the Muslim rulers of Mombasa or Malindi
Figure 20. Zheng He's route to the West, note the Ancient Kingdom of Koxhikode (also translated as "Koxhikode", the site known in the West as "Calicut" in the West), which was commemorated by Zheng He's fleet when it sailed to the West for the second time
Figure 21. Chinese three-masted sea ship restoration model and modern demobilized hull, pay attention to the hard sail with quadrilateral and triangular fusion features, both easy to operate on the deck, but also has a certain degree of ease of operation, it should be said that before the 15th century, the technical gap between the East and west sea ships was not very large
90 years ago, in 1408, Zheng He's fleet landed here for the first time, and the Chinese name here was called "Guri". Compared with the Portuguese expeditions, Zheng He's fleet was slightly less original, and on the Ptolemaic map, Arab navigators had already marked the coastlines of the South China Sea, the northern Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, which were relatively mature navigation routes, and local water diverters who were familiar with the situation could be found along the way.
As early as more than a hundred years before Zheng He's voyage, there are records of ancient Chinese merchants going to Kerala to engage in trade activities, which are recorded in the song Dynasty Zhao Rushi's overseas geographical masterpiece "Zhu Fan Zhi". The center of trade at that time was Kollam, a port city in the Malabar region of Kerala. Quelong is recorded as the "Old Presence" in the Chronicles of the ZhuFan, which belonged to the Southern Bi Kingdom at that time.
Figure 22. Ma Huan, an important member of Zheng He's fleet, wrote the "Yingya Victory" in detail the situation of the ancient kingdom. In the book, the place is referred to as "Kolikkotu" (still used in the local language today) or "Guli". Ma Huan described Calicut as a "Western power", and Zheng He was sent a message to calicut's rulers on the orders of Ming Chengzu
Figure 23. Today's sculpture in the city of Carilat shows Chinese silk merchants and local customers haggling, haggling with their fingers under the cover of that cloth
Also a century before Zheng He's fleet arrived at the port of Pantaleani in Guri, Ibn Battuta, an envoy from the Delhi Sultanate to China, recorded witnessing 13 Chinese ships in the port of Pantaleani, which, together with the discovery of the "Nanhai One" Southern Song Dynasty ancient ship, constitutes written and physical archaeological evidence.
Figure 24. Ibn Battuta's Travels, Ancient Style Edition
Figure 25. Western historians have examined the travel routes of Ibn Battuta (1325-1354), born in Tangier, Morocco, as far east as Guangzhou, Yangzhou and Beijing (Dadu) of the Yuan Dynasty, as far west as Timbuktu in the south-central Sahara Desert, as far south as Sangbal and Kilwa (powered by the monsoon on a sea boat), as far north as the capital of the Golden Horde on the Volga River, Sarai, and more cattle- Upon his return to his hometown of Tangier in 1356, his observations were compiled into the Travels of Ibn Battuta, which provided an intuitive account of the world at that time, although some of the contents were considered hearsay by later scholars
On April 24, 1498, under the guidance of Majid, the Portuguese fleet set sail from Malindi, taking advantage of the southwest monsoon, which is unique to the Indian Ocean only in the first half of each year, to plunge straight into the Indian coast, and finally on May 20, 1498, it reached Calicut, the most powerful port city on the southwest coast of India, and the direct trade route between east and west that Europeans had dreamed of for thousands of years was finally opened. Majid's indian ocean charts saved the Europeans a lot of time in drawing a new version of the world map, and it also saved them a lot of time in exploring and conquering this vast area in the future.
Figure 26. Interestingly, da Gama wrote in his records that the Indians' sea ships were 10 times larger than their own Western-style sailing ships, which reflected the strength of the Indian Ocean trade hegemons at that time
Interestingly, the Portuguese who rushed into the Indian Ocean were not as kindly received as in fairy tales, and the maritime overlords of the Indian Ocean for thousands of years certainly did not want Europeans to share a piece of the pie, and da Gama spent more than three months in Calicut, setting sail back to Europe on August 29, passing through Malindi, where he erected a monument that still stands today.
Many sailors died of illness on the way back, including Leonardo's brother Paulo, and only 2 boats survived, on 10 July 1499, the Caravel sailing ship "Bellio" returned to Portugal, and da Gama's flagship "San Gabriel" did not arrive in Lisbon until September 9 of that year, when only half of the surviving sailors were on departure.
Figure 27. The Da Gama Landing Monument in Malindi, Kenya, represents the end of an era of isolation and monopoly, and the arrival of another new era of blood and fire, subversion and conquest
- To be continued, stay tuned! -