Zabra

Profile and plan view of Santiago, largest zabra in the Spanish Armada

A zabra (zah-brə) was a small or midsized sailing vessel used off the coasts of Spain and Portugal to carry goods by sea from the 13th century until the mid-16th century; they were well-armed to defend themselves against pirates and corsairs.

Early Iberian documentary sources, such as the Estoria de España,[1] refer to their use by the Moors and from about 1500 onwards a fleet of zabras developed in the coastal trade of Cantabria on the Cantabrian Sea, and fishermen began using them to exploit the fisheries of Ireland and North America.[2] These zabras were fast, square-rigged row-sailers with two masts; they were rowed with 14 to 18 oars and had a tonnage of between 20 and 60 tons. Their ratio of beam to length was 1: 3.75–4.0.[3] The smallest zabras had only a half deck or a poop deck, but the larger ones were covered with a flush deck.

Because of their excellent handling qualities, and despite their modest size, they were frequently used by the Crown of Castile for the transport of money and soldiers to Flanders, as well as in transatlantic voyages.[2][4]

Zabras were used for exploration, reconnaissance and the dispatch of messages,[5] and also for guarding the coasts and landfall areas that were of interest to the Crown and its overseas empire. Zabras were navigated and maneuvered under sail, and earlier versions could also be rowed by oarsmen.[3] They were armed for both commerce and warfare. Although designed for use in the Cantabrian Sea, zabras were used in the Mediterranean Sea for Spain's Naples campaigns in the Italian Wars of 1495 and 1500, and in 1534 against the Barbary pirate, Barbarossa, the admiral of the Ottoman fleet.

Zabras made the transatlantic crossing between America and Spain in 30 days or less and could transport an average of about 100 tons of cargo in their holds. These two characteristics, speed and load capacity, in addition to their armaments, made them ideal substitutes for the ships of the Spanish treasure fleets, West Indies Fleets (Flota de Indias), when those ships could not make the annual crossing due to lack of time, danger of enemy attacks or some other cause.

  1. ^ Eero Kalervo Neuvonen (1941). Los arabismos del español en el siglo XIII. Sociedad de Literatura Finesa. p. 225.
  2. ^ a b José Luis Casado Soto (1991). "Los barcos del Atlántico ibérico en el siglo de los descubrimientos: Aproximación a la definición de su perfil tipológico" [The Ships of the Iberian Atlantic in the Age of Discovery: An Approach to Defining its Typological Profile]. Actas de las IX Jornadas de Andalucía y América (in Spanish). Seville: 139. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b Sergio Bellabarba (3 October 2016). "31. The Sailing Qualities of Venetian Great Galleys in the 15th Century Evidence of their Influence on the Development of Sailing Ships in the Atlantic Area during the Following Century". In Beltrame, Carlo (ed.). Boats, Ships and Shipyards: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Venice 2000. Oxbow Books. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-78570-464-2.
  4. ^ Stradling, R. A. (2003). The Armada of Flanders: Spanish Maritime Policy and European War, 1568-1668. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-521-52512-1.
  5. ^ Rodgers, William Ledyard (1967). Naval Warfare Under Oars, 4th to 16th Centuries: A Study of Strategy, Tactics and Ship Design. U.S. Naval Institute. pp. 292, 351. ISBN 978-0-87021-487-5.