According to the book Ships (part of the Life Science Library), during the fifteenth century, ship designers “in a burst of inventiveness and creativity . . . produced the first, classic full-rigged ship: three masts, with large square sails on foremast and mainmast; a lateen [triangular] sail set on the mizzen [mast furthest back]; and, frequently, a rather large spritsail set forward of the stem, below the bowsprit.”
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