The spritsail revolution: Contemporary debate on the introduction of sailing technology at sea and its importance for maritime trade in the sixteenth-century Netherlands

The introduction of the spritsail on small seagoing vessels in the 1530s was considered a breakthrough by contemporaries. Concerned about their small crews, the central government of the Habsburg Netherlands in Brussels feared that these vessels would be easy targets for enemies and pirates. While preparing central legislation on seafaring navigation in 1548–1549, the government sought to prohibit the use of the spritsail, a move that triggered opposition from the maritime interest groups involved in drafting this legislation. The surviving source material allows one to trace the discussions of both the government and the different interest groups involved – mainly the Hollanders. This article presents and evaluates the arguments exchanged. It argues that the adoption of the spritsail was so widespread and rapid that it constituted a revolution in seafaring, occurring more than half a century prior to the development of the flute, the cargo vessel par excellence of the Dutch Golden Age.