Abstract
Documentary sources and historical accounts collected recently allow for an in-depth examination of a little known vessel type called bergantines, which, along with naos and caravelas used by Columbus and his contemporaries, saw extensive service in the New World during the early contact period. In addition to their role in exploratory and settlement fleets, trade, and the conquest of Mexico, a discussion of the construction of bergantines based on inventory documents from Puerto Rico spanning 1510–1513 provides unique insight into vernacular watercraft of the early contact period.
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Acknowledgements
The author wishes to express his thanks to Dr. John Young of the History Department of Flagler College, St. Augustine, for his Latin translations of Italian shipbuilding contracts and to Dr. Francisco Fernández-González of the Gabinete de Historia de la Ciencia y la Tecnología Navales in Madrid, Spain, for materials and insights provided during the course of this investigation. A special thanks are due Mr. Brendan Burke of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) who produced the figures in the text.
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Turner, S.P. (2016). The Bergantín, a Little Known Craft from the Early Spanish Period in the New World. In: Evans, A. (eds) The Archaeology of Vernacular Watercraft. When the Land Meets the Sea. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3563-5_4
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