Distance in days between locations.

[Jib]

I'm curious as to the length of time sailors generally planned for when traveling between the Old World and the colonies as well as between the colonies themselves. I know it would not be exact but a rough estimate would be of interest. Example: roughly how many days travel between Boston and Port Royal.

[MarkG]

It took Columbus around six weeks to sail from Spain to the Caribbean. The trip back was a little shorter - 28 days from the Spanish Main to Palos, Spain.

The expedition to outfit Jamestown had less favorable weather. It took them four and a half months to get from London to Virginia. That included six weeks of winter storms in the English Channel and some time spent trying to find fresh water in the Caribbean.

It took the Pilgrims a bit over to months two sail from Plymouth England to Cape Cod.

Edited February 9, 2011 by MarkG

[Jib]

Very interesting. It appears that no rough estimate could reasonably determined. If you had a family member joining you in the New World from Europe it could be from anywhere from 2 months to 4 months.

[Korisios]

Interresting indeed, are also maps somewhere of the route they would plan to be taken, did they also make use of the currents? or is all the wind that makes them go?

[MarkG]

Interresting indeed, are also maps somewhere of the route they would plan to be taken, did they also make use of the currents? or is all the wind that makes them go?

The wind was the main propulsion but currents were important. The quickest way from the Caribbean to Europe is to take the Gulf Stream. There, the wind and currents both go the same way.

There is a theory that Ponce de Leon was trying to reach the Yucatan Peninsula and set sail directly for it but was pushed north by the currents and hit Florida instead. I have a book written in the 1990s that followed his log and that is how the current carries you. Unfortunately you end up a long way south of St. Augustine.

In clear water navigators tried to estimate currents by dropping a weighted line and seeing how far out it bowed. This was an art rather than a science.

[Korisios]

So going back would mean taking a nother route?

[MarkG]

So going back would mean taking a nother route?

Right. At sea the wind tends to come from the same direction. You cannot sail into the wind so you either have to take a different route back or tack (sail back and forth at an angle).

The Columbus route is still the best way to sail between Europe and America. You sail south until you are even with the Canary Islands (off of Africa) then turn west and you end up in the Caribbean. From there you can either return by sailing north to Florida and catching the Gulf Stream or you can sail up the American coast most of the way.

To go to Asia from Europe, you take nearly the same route but bare south until the wind shifts from the north. By this time you are near Brazil. From there the wind will take you south and east to the tip of Africa. This was the Portuguese route. One of their ships got blown off course and made landfall on South America which is why Brazil speaks Portuguese.

This was important during the GAoP. The Spanish were downwind from Tortuga and the other pirate haunts. They were on what it known as the Windward Islands. When the wind is behind you, it makes it easier to chase down your prey. It also made reprisals harder since the Spanish would have to keep a fleet together on a long, round-about trip.

[jendobyns]

This difference in how the winds and currents flow was also a factor in the cycle of trade from place to place. It isn't unusual to find that a traveller has taken a ship from an English port to the colonies in North America (say, going to Boston or Philadelphia or somewhere in the Carolinas) by way of Jamaica or another Caribbean port, staying for some time while cargo was off loaded and new cargo taken on, before continuing on their way to their destination. Then the ship would sail over to England and start the circuit over again.