The Age of Sail came about during the age of gunpowder, and (supposedly) the Romans only used square sails and couldn’t tack. Both would save weight relative to our more recent and familiar sailing vessels.
During Caligula’s reign (Gaius was 3rd in the usual list of Emperors), a 300+ ton obelisk was brought by sea from Egypt, in one piece, in a ship custom made for the project. Even the Romans were impressed by this ship, and they were used to seeing large grain-haulers and whatnot. It was moored in the river and became a tourist attraction.
:^)
Using the Batavia 650 cargo tonnage vs 1200 ton displacement ratio that Roman 300+ ton Obelisk ship would have had a 600+ ton displacement. Impressive for the times.
Of course that doesn’t taken into account the gross weight of all the rats on board....which leads to question y.pestis plague outbreaks, were there any contemporaneous reports of such?