The origin of the gunport is difficult to specify. In France, it has often been attributed to François Descharges (or Deschenges), a master carpenter in Brest in 1501; this is now known to be incorrect, since the ships of this era had long since adopted guns as their main armament. Examples of earlier occurrence are a 1498 terra cotta tile featuring a Portuguese caravel pierced with gunports; a relation of the Siege of Rhodes, printed in Ulm in 1496, that mentions a ship with 10 gunports; and a text that mentions that during the Conquest of the Canary Islands, Isabelle of Canary was thrown overboard through the gunport of Béthencourt's ship.