Why Zonchio's fleet totals resist precision

Fleet totals changed as supply ships and detached vessels moved through the operation, so a count from one day may not describe the battle line on another. English-language accounts often give Venice about fifteen large sailing ships, while Italian sources distinguish their types more narrowly and sometimes count only four caravels. Some of the apparent disagreement may reflect Italian use of specialist vessel names where northern European observers would group the same ships as carracks. The discrepancy illustrates why apparently exact early-modern fleet lists need to be read alongside each source's vocabulary, date, and purpose.