Carrack

Pirate Ship

It was most popular at the end of the 15th and in the 16th century. In the beginning carrack were used mostly as a merchant ship. However, in the 16th century, it was upgraded with all new equipment to prevent pirate's attacks. Carracks were first ships with the guns mounted low in the hull. Such powerful and well-armed ships were used as the warships. An example was King Henry VIII's “Mary Rose”. They were the largest ships in that period, usually over 1,000 tons. A carrack sometimes had two or four masts, but usually was three-masted, first two square-rigged and lateen rigged on the mizzen-mast. As a carrack developed, the topsails were added on the main-mast and the fore-mast. This ship also featured a high forecastle and stern which allowed big crew and large fighting tops. The carracks were mostly used by the Spanish and Portuguese and they were similar to the galleons and caravels.