It carried a triangle shaped sail, called the mizzen course. It was a balancing or steering sail. All the way forward, on the bowsprit was the sprit sail. This was good for maneuvering the ship. Its bottom edge sometimes was in the water.
Modern sailboats can sail almost into the wind.
The sails act almost like an airplane wing, with the wind flowing over the sail creating lift. The best you could do to windward was when the wind was just a little forward of the beam. But all other points of sail she behaved beautifully. For this reason, they sailed mostly following the trade winds. Instead of just heading anywhere you wanted, or taking the more direct route, you used the prevailing winds to push you.