carrack

carrack, sailing ship of the 14th–17th centuries that was usually built with three masts, the mainmast and foremast being rigged with square sails and the mizzenmast rigged with a fore-and-aft triangular lateen sail. Sometimes a square sail was hung beneath the bowsprit forward of the bow, and topsails were hung above the courses on the mainmast and foremast. Some larger carracks had a fourth mast, the bonaventure, stepped behind the mizzenmast to carry another lateen sail. The carrack was deep and broad, with a high sterncastle and still higher forecastle thrusting out over the bow (see castle). Large carracks may have reached almost 45 metres (150 feet) in length overall and more than 1,000 tons displacement. They were the premier merchant ships of the Mediterranean powers; along with the smaller, lateen-rigged caravels, they made possible the great voyages of European exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. The carrack was the precursor of the galleon, a warship of similar rigging that was built with less cumbersome fore- and sterncastles and a greater length relative to beam.