WI: Carthaginian Lateen Sails?

[DominusNovus]

Its somewhat tragic that the Lateen Sail was developed - at the earliest - in the Roman Empire, well after the more adventurous Punic and Greek sailors had gotten fat and happy with the Pax Romana. Okay, I’m being hyperbolic there.

But given that we know that the Carthaginians did make forays into the Atlantic, and did sail pretty far down the African coast, what if those same sailors had better sails, such as the Lateen?

 

[SwampTiger]

I have considered the idea of a Carthaginian west Africa and colonies in the Americas. Such colonies would require a good economic reason for establishment and useful trade items. However, short of some extreme reason for the movement, I don't see Punic traders expending the effort. Romans would have a similar problem.

The development of the settee and/lug sail appears delayed by the Mediterranean wind and trade patterns. Why sail against the wind, when it will change in a few months. That said, after centuries of the tin trade in the Atlantic, I have to wonder why a better windward sail wasn't developed. The answer may be in the ability of the square sail to propel a ship across the wind, combined with a hull technology which may not have benefited from a more weatherly sail tech. In other words, it was good enough for their requirements.

 

[DominusNovus]

I have considered the idea of a Carthaginian west Africa and colonies in the Americas. Such colonies would require a good economic reason for establishment and useful trade items. However, short of some extreme reason for the movement, I don't see Punic traders expending the effort. Romans would have a similar problem.

The development of the settee and/lug sail appears delayed by the Mediterranean wind and trade patterns. Why sail against the wind, when it will change in a few months. That said, after centuries of the tin trade in the Atlantic, I have to wonder why a better windward sail wasn't developed. The answer may be in the ability of the square sail to propel a ship across the wind, combined with a hull technology which may not have benefited from a more weatherly sail tech. In other words, it was good enough for their requirements.

Well, we know that the Carthaginians did establish such trading contacts with West Africa, they just didn’t maintain them. Colonies are a whole other story. Either way, the sail reduces the cost of trading with West Africa.

 

[SwampTiger]

The lateen does nothing to the cost of sailing past Cape Bogador. Its advantage is the ability to sail closer to the wind. Later explorers and merchants used the square sail predominantly because they followed the trade winds on the India and eastward. The use of the lateen made exploration easier, because you could get out of trouble against lee shores easier. Once the Portuguese realized they could reach favorable winds off West Africa by sailing out to sea before turning north, and thus return home, which was the real terror for early sailors, the lateen became less necessary.