Lateen
The lateen sail is a fore- consisting of a cloth in the shape of a triangle, which is posted with the Rutenliek on the tail or Latin Rah said spar. The tail is usually attached approximately in the center of the mast. For sailing, the tail is inclined, like so that one side of the sail is horizontal and is stretched with the rope at the top. Depending on the wind direction, the sail can be swiveled to both sides, including the entire rod has to be realigned.
The lateen sail came in the 2nd - 4th Century AD in the Roman Mediterranean cruise, initially mainly due to smaller and coastal vessels. The Belgian naval historian Lucien Basch According fall into the Hellenistic Seafaring real lateen traced back even to the first century BC. The marriage of Latin sail was in the Middle Ages. From the 6th century, it dominated the sailing ships in the Mediterranean region such that the hitherto dominant square sails only in the late Middle Ages again is really tangible. [A. 1] The lateen sail allowed higher to sail close to the wind, making the crossing easier and the journey time against the wind were significantly shortened.
The origin of the name lateen is not clearly understood. One interpretation states that the northern European sailors named after the Latins, who used it awarded. Another interpretation refers the expression alla trina ( triangular) for the sail. The square sail was called analog alla quadrata.
The ships in the age of discovery, the caravels, and galleons carracks used square sails on the front and lateen sail on the rear masts. For very large ships of this time two lateen sails were superimposed driven occasionally, but that was very difficult to operate.
The lateen sail was further developed in the 17th century to the gaff sails, spars which called for chucking, boom and gaff are hinged to one end of the mast and thus were much more manageable.