Naus (Shipping Vessels) Naus were large, heavy ocean-going vessels generally used only on well-known routes. First used to transport goods on the voyage to Mina in 1482, these were the commercial workhorses of the fifteenth-century Portuguese fleet. Vasco da Gama used one nau, the "Gabriel," on his voyage to India in 1497.     See the South Atlantic ranges of boats used for commerce.