The lateen-rigged Maltese brigantine

Abstract

The evolutionary history of the lateen-rigged Maltese brigantine took at least four centuries. The vessel appeared for the first time round local waters in the fifteenth century as a small transport ship. During the seventeenth century the brigantine was attached, to a great extent, to the galley squadron of the Order of St John. In the eighteenth century local padroni made extensive use of the vessel as a small merchantship which roamed all over the Mediterranean and even reached Lisbon. The western trade route for the brigantine proved to be the most important in the Mediterranean and Maltese armateurs organized, regularly, voyages to Spain and Lisbon transporting, more than anything else, cotton thread and manufactured goods.