Schooners and clippers have three or more masts...
Christopher Columbus used the type of sailing vessel called a caravel. Caravels were a common sailing ship built in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were small ships with a broad bow, a high narrow poop deck, and usually had three masts.
You might be thinking about the sailing vessel known as a "clipper", a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig.
the third mast from forward in a vessel having three or more masts
caravel
Caravel.
A barque, a caravel, brig, a carrack, a clipper, a corvette, a frigate. These are some of the types of sailing vessels that can have three masts
Third mast from the bow in a vessel having three or more masts; the after and shorter mast of a yawl, ketch, or dandy.
On a sailing vessel having more than three mast, the mizzen mast is the third mast immediately aft of the main mast. It is a shorter mast than the foremast. It is often located over the stern of the boat or ship. Correction to the above: a "Yawl" or a "Ketch" has two masts -a mainmast and a mizzen, with the mizzen sometimes located right on the transom at the stern.
Tall ships. More specifically, a Barque or Bark has three masts (possible more) fore and aft rigged mizzen mast. Barquentine, three masts with all but the foremost fore and aft rigged. A fully rigged ship, three or more masts, all of them square rigged A Schooner, three or more masts with fore and aft rigged sails
"There's precious little to say between day and dark,Perhaps a few words on the implacable willOf time sailing like a magic barqueOr something as fine for the amenities..."-Allen TateWe watched as they boarded the small barque, which with three masts, seemed bigger than the boat itself; how a vessel of its size remained afloat with masts of that size was a mystery to us all.
Ships are generally distinguished from boats on the basis of size, shape, load capacity, and tradition. Remember it is only recently that watercraft have been mechanically powered and historically a "ship" was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowsprit.The modern definition of a ship is "a vesicle for transporting people or goods by sea (air - airship, or in space- spaceship).