How Did Matthew Dias Use Multiple Masts

Exploration in the 1400s Science and technology improved exploration in the fourteen hundreds. One type of ship used by explorers Christopher Columbus, Bartholomew Dias, and Vasco de Gama was the caravel, invented in the thirteenth century. The caravel was originally used as a fishing boat and it used lateen sails. Lateen sails are triangular sails, which allowed explorers to use the wind to their advantage when sailing. Caravels had a tilted bow and two masts. These masts were called the mizzen mast and the mainmast. Two of Columbus’s ships were caravels, the Nina and the Pinta. In Vasco de Gama’s first expedition for Portugal, three of his four ships were caravels. Bartholomew Dias used one caravel in his expedition around the Cape of Good Hope. …show more content…
Masts were used to position the sails in the correct direction. The two different types of masts, the main mast and the mizzen mast, were used for a specific purpose. The main mast was the taller of the two, and the mizzen mast was shorter. They were located so that the wind would catch the sails at an angle, increasing the speed of the ship. Some ships were built with three or four masts, which sometimes had eight sails. A second invention used in the fifteenth century was the new location of the rudder on the ship. It was adopted by the Europeans, and invented by the Chinese. It made the boat more accurate in the direction it was traveling. The rudder helped explorers not to drift off their course. The rudder saved them a few days of getting off course and having to reset their direction. Before the use of the rudder, ships used two side oars for steering. The rudder was necessary for Columbus’s