Definition of "caravelle"

On the Ninth of May, in the Year one Thouſand, five Hundred, and Two, [Christopher] Columbus and his Brother departed, from Spain, on their laſt Voyage of Diſcovery, with four Caravelles, and one hundred, and ſeventy Men.

1776, [John Campbell], John Kent, “Memoirs of Christopher Columbus”, in Biographia Nautica; Or, Memoirs of Those Illustrious Seamen, to whose Intrepidity and Conduct the English are Indebted, […] In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for J. Wallis and C. Stonehouse, […], page 433

At preſent theſe trees are not very numerous, as the Turks make uſe of them to build the Grand Signior's caravelles, and cut down without ever planting.

1788, [Claude-Étienne] Savary, “Letter XIII. To M. L. M.”, in Letters on Greece; being a Sequel to Letters on Egypt, […] Translated from the French [...], London: Printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, […], page 98

Let[ter] 35. […] He has had the command of ſeveral of the Grand Signior's caravelles, and paſſed ſome time at Venice; he has travelled through Egypt, and visited, according to the religious cuſtom of the Mahometans, the tomb of his prophet.

1789 February, “Art. VII. Letters on Greece, being a Sequel to Letters on Egypt; […] Translated from the French of Mr. Savory[sic – meaning Savary]. 8vo. Price 6s. in boards. Robinsons. 1788. [book review]”, in [Thomas Christie], editor, The Analytical Review, or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign, [...], volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 163

Craft that have successfully completed voyages over vast distances in the Pacific – and which, therefore, could be defined as ‘seaworthy’ – comprise a broad range of vessels including rowboats and balsawood rafts (such as the Bounty’s launch and the Kon Tiki raft); Melanesian drua; Micronesian outriggers and Polynesian twin-hulled canoes; European caravelles, galleons, schooners, barques, frigates and other sailing vessels (where the nature of the rigging determines the class of vessel rather than size or hull design); and modern screw-driven, steel-hulled merchantmen and warships.

2010, Donald B. Freeman, “Encompassing the Pacific: Revolutions in Transport, Navigation and Chart Making”, in The Pacific (Seas in History), Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, page 99