Lateen Sail Heritage
F2. Maritime Culture, Heritage, Archaeology, Art and MuseumsDefinition
Mediterranean and Indian Ocean rig tradition.
The triangular fore-and-aft sail set on a long yard angled across the mast, the rig that let Mediterranean and Indian Ocean vessels sail closer to the wind than the square sail allowed. Documented in the Mediterranean from late antiquity (it appears in the 4th-century Kelenderis mosaic), it powered the Arab dhow, the medieval caravel, and the felucca. Portuguese caravels of the 15th-century Atlantic voyages of discovery used lateen sails to beat back upwind. Surviving examples sail in Nile feluccas and preserved dhows in the Gulf.
Source: Lateen rig; attested in the Mediterranean from late antiquity, Kelenderis mosaic 4th century AD