Know your Nautical Terminology
You are all familiar with the Viking Longship. But how did we get from there to the ultimate in sailing ships, the Clipper ship? I will explain over the next several months. The cog's slow speed precipitated the next advance in ship design, the
caravel
a small sailing ship developed by the Portuguese that may be rigged with just lateen sails, or with a combination of lateen and square sails. It was known for its agility and speed and its capacity for sailing windward (beating). Caravels were used by the Portuguese and Spanish for the voyages of exploration during the 15th and 16th centuries, in the Age of Exploration. Like the cog, they were carvel vice clinker built. This means the planks of the ship's hull were laid flat with only the edges abutting and not overlapped.
The caravel is a poorly understood type of vessel. Though there are now some archaeologically investigated wrecks that are most likely caravels, information on this type is limited. We have a better understanding of the ships of the Greeks and Romans of classical antiquity than we do of the caravel.
The exploration done with caravels made the spice trade of the Portuguese and the Spanish possible. However, for the trade itself, the caravel was soon replaced by the larger carrack (nau), which we will see next time.
A Portuguese caravel 
SpyNavy
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)