by The Architects of the First True Ocean-Going Sailing Ships
This nomination for the Iberian (primarily Portuguese) shipwrights who in the 15th century synthesized Mediterranean and Atlantic designs to create the carrack (or nau), the vessel that made the Age of Discovery possible. This was the first ship truly capable of prolonged ocean voyages. It combined a strong skeleton-built hull, three masts (with a mix of square and lateen sails for versatility), and high forecastles and sterncastles for defense and storage. Carracks like Columbus’s Santa María and da Gama’s São Gabriel were floating fortresses and warehouses, able to carry years of supplies, survive Atlantic storms, and mount cannons. Their construction represented a leap in global logistics, creating a platform that could connect continents. The builders of the carrack proved that maritime exploration and global trade required a new class of vesselone designed for endurance, capacity, and independence from coastal landmarksand that its creation was a feat of engineering as significant as the voyages it enabled.
