A Quantitative Look at Mediterranean Lateen- and Square-Rigged Ships (Part 1)

Modern-day engineering can be a useful tool to help understand the technological changes which led to the development of the three-masted ships of the modern age of sail, in the beginning of the 15th century. Recent finding and excavation of an increasing number of medieval shipwrecks offers the opportunity, and the authors propose to build a database with technical characteristics of late-medieval vessels in the hope of finding patterns that will help understand the relatively-quick technological evolution of Mediterranean merchant craft of the 14th and 15th centuries.