Would a 50 ton two mast caravel outrun a 150 ton four mast carrack?

Question

I'm kind of puzzled. Instinctively I would say the smaller ship would go faster, but the larger ship is more advanced and has twice as many sails so my doubt increases.

What kind of wind would the smaller ship need to outrun the larger? Would the smaller ship have the advantage in no wind, or lots of wind?

Answer 1

many other factors being equal, the maximum speed of a boat or ship is the square root of the length of the waterline times a constant; as hulls get more efficient that constant goes up.......so a 50 ton sloop today would be WAY faster than a50 ton caravel of back when.

Now, back when, the 150 tonner would be faster than the smaller ship.......longer LWL, more sail area, able to set a better combination of sails on different masts yada yada

the situation where the caravel would be faster : if the caravel has a lanteen rig ( instead of square sail....I believe that was the Pinta's rig but not 100% on that) then she would point higher into the wind and could outsail a square rig to windward, and would probably have greater acceleration and handling in very light and fluky conditions as you would find in the Med....which is the reason the Arab Barbarry pirates kept a 2 masted lanteen rig on their ships right up to the 1820's

Answer 2

principles of physics are not equate to vessels which are afloat where you would assume e=mc2 due to the lack of friction on dry land with wheels and bearings producing friction.hull design could produce a greater or much lesser resistance beyond any speculation..