The Fusta or Fuste (in English sometimes also called Foist, in Turkish kalita, in Italian galiota) was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail -– in essence a small galley. It had 18 to 22 oars on each side, a single mast with a lateen (triangular) sail, and usually carried two or three guns. The sail was used to cruise and save the rowers’ energy, while the oars propelled the ship in and out of harbor and during combat. OAR is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: An abbreviation of the term Original Aspect Ratio. ... A French galley and Dutch men-of-war off a port by Abraham Willaerts, painted 17th century. ... A lateen (from Latin) is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. ...

The fusta was the favorite ship of the North African corsairs of Salé and the Barbary Coast. Its speed, mobility, capability to move without wind, and its ability to operate in shallow water -- crucial for hiding in coastal waters before pouncing on a passing ship -- made it ideal for war and piracy. It was mainly with fustas that the Barbarossa brothers, Baba Aruj and Khair ad Din carried out the Turkish conquest of North Africa and the rescue of Moriscos from Spain after the fall of Granada and that they and the other North African corsairs wrought terror upon Christian shipping and coastal areas of the Mediterranean in the 16th and 17th centuries. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Salé (from the Berber word asla, meaning rock) is the twin city to Rabat, capital of Morocco. ... The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans till the 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. ... Baba Aruj Aruj, turkish Oruç (c. ... Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (Turkish: Barbaros Hayreddin PaÅŸa or Barbaros Hayrettin PaÅŸa, Arabic: Khair ad-Din) (c. ... Morisco (Spanish Moor-like) or mourisco (Portuguese) is a term referring to a kind of New Christian in Spain and Portugal. ... Granada – Greek: (Steph. ...

Literature

Svat Soucek, "The Ottomans and Their Rivals, Galleys and Galleons, Portolan Charts and Isolarii," in his "Piri Reis & Turkish Mapmaking After Columbus: The Khalili Portolan Atlas," Nour Foundation, 1995 (pp. 10-33).