How many more once in a lifetime storms are we going to have this year?, page-71

I think you would be surprised.

Firstly, why would you describe them as primitive? They had been developed over centuries of wooden ship building and many techniques of undergirding and flexibility were well understood. The main danger for them was being too close to a lee shore in a storm. Storms themselves were rarely a problem with enough sea room - they would just run before them bare-poled. We still lose ships nowadays (even in non-pirated areas!).


https://www.allianz.com/v_1427190309000/media/press/document/other/Shipping-Review-2015.pdf