Clinker cogs meet larger Castilian hulls

Northern European cogs generally used clinker construction, which constrained hull shape and size differently from the developing Iberian carvel method. The Castilian vessels were larger ships on an iterative path toward later carvel forms, although they may not yet have been fully developed caravels. Their smoother, larger hulls gave de la Cerda's force an important physical advantage over many English cogs. This distinction avoids treating ship types as fixed designs that appeared fully formed. France hired Charles de la Cerda and his experienced Castilian force partly because this construction and operating experience could replace capabilities that French shipping no longer possessed in the Channel.