Travel times by sail around 1700

[wdrenth]

Dear all,

Not related to anything marching or galloping, I am looking for information regarding the average travel times cross ocean around 1700. Sure this information can be distilled from several contemporary accounts, but maybe this has been sorted out before. Maybe there even were almanacks that provided that kind of information?

So, for example, I am interested to know the time it took to sail from, for example, Portsmouth to Barbados, or to Jamaica. Or to any of the North American colonies. Or how long it took to get to Bombay or Bencoolen in the far East Indies.

Thanks for any hints

best regards,
Wienand

[Friedrich August I.]

Wienand,

Portsmouth to Barbados is approx 3 625 nautical miles.
Average cruising speed of the 3rd rate Ship of the line between 4 -7 knots. That gives approx. 150 nm in 24h so you would have at least a month to cross the Atlantic Ocean. A Frigate would be a bit faster, a Merchantmen would take a bit longer.

Portsmouth to Bombay(Mumbay) is around Cap of Good Hope 10.530nm
so with a cruising speed of 7 knots it would take you about 63 days to get there...

http://sea-distances.com/

Hope that helps
Günter

[wdrenth]

hello Günter,

Thank you for your reply and the link. It looks like a proper place to start.

However, 63 days from Portsmouth to Bombay sounds a bit too optimistic For example, when Bombay became English in 1661 (it was part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza), a battalion set sail for Bombay on 6 April 1662. The first ships arrived only by mid September 1662, the last about one month later. They probably paused a lot ...

cheers,
Wienand

[Friedrich August I.]

Hi Wienand,

yes it was only the time at sea at best possible speed! Not including search for sweetwater and food which was of course necessary because if you carry troops on board you dont have much space for supplies on board. I dont think that there is some calculator in the INet that gives you the real estimates for Travels under Sail in the 17th Century..btw., the Mayflower was 66 days at sea!

Günter

[stecal]

Some good information here:

http://www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopi ... =33&t=3553

Seems that travel times varied immensely depending on ship size & condition & direction of travel if you could catch a favorable wind or current.

Apparently Lloyds of London has centuries worth of data on ship departure & arrival times since that was their business to track these things for insurance purposes.

I also seem to remember some roleplaying games that had a chart of 18th c. sea travel times. I think it was Heart of Oak/Privateers & Gentlemen

[wdrenth]

hi stecal,

Thank you for the reply and the link, and I think something useful may come out.

In the end, the main goal is to emphasis the conceptual thought that a voyage took in the order of months, not just a few weeks.

Journeys by land took even longer. When in Bombay in the early 1660s, two persons were sent to London overland with dispatches. Which cost them about one year.

regards,
Wienand