Caravel

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A small, shallow-draught exploring vessel, typically two- or three-masted and commonly given as between about 50 and 160 tons burthen — a fraction of the size of the ships that later carried the cargo. Its defining feature was rig rather than hull: the caravela latina carried triangular lateen sails on all masts, which let it sail materially closer to the wind than a square rig and therefore work back up a coast against a foul breeze. That is exactly the capability needed to explore an unknown shoreline you may have to retreat from. Its shallow draught let it enter river mouths and lagoons that a deep-hulled trader could not. For long open-ocean running, crews preferred square canvas on the fore and main — the caravela redonda, a hybrid — because a lateen yard is heavy, slow to shift and dangerous in a squall. The Niña and the Pinta of 1492 were caravels; the Santa María was not, and the ships that later ran the India route were not either. The caravel is the instrument of reconnaissance, not of trade.