Atlantic Ocean Shipping Routes

[AllByMeOnesies]

I'm looking for information regarding the Atlantic shipping routes, specifically England to the east coast of America in summer, including prevailing winds (if possible). Thanks for any help.

[Matusalem]

Do you mean pirate era?

One can try the *Triangle trade Route* for starters, though it involves the slave trade. Are you referring specifically to merchant vessels? I don't know much else just yet but I'm going to find out.

The Triangle trade: This was a cycle: Ships left England or the east coast of America loaded with rum & sugar, sailed to the Guinea coast of Africa & traded the cargo for slaves, sailed to the Caribbean and dropped off the slaves and loaded the ships with sugar cane, and sailed to the east coast America to make rum with the sugar cane, then the rum would be used for the next slave voyage, thus continuing the cycle. Perfect model of a commodity industry. As for pirates, they would just go wherever merchant vessels were present. many of the famous pirates had a number of freed slaves as part of their crew.

Rum is the currency of the Triangle trade.

Triangle trade

Triangle Trade

Triangle Trade

[Misson]

The triangle trade seems to have been one of the most popular going by the colonies during period, but wasn't direct. I've read that they sometimes stopped in the Colonies (in Edward Barlow's Journal) on the way back, but not much about trade there. My impression (and it may be wrong) is that the colonies were not exactly the richest place to send trade to. They seem to have been more interested in producing goods in the Colonies for export, so it might make good sense that a ship making the triangle route would stop there if they had room. (The third point of the triangle was the West Indies, so ships would usually be laden with sugar and similar products of the Caribbean by the time they got to the southern Colonies.)

If you're a merchant in the GAoP, the most popular trading routes seem to have been China, the East Indies and Africa/West Indies at this time. I have also read of a route from England to Nova Scotia (in James Yonge's Journal) to obtain fish for England. He made that trip at least twice, commenting quite a bit on how slow it was if I remember it rightly. They left in the spring/summer and returned in the fall. That gets you closer than the Triangle trade so it might be a starting point for information on the winds and sailing patterns. (The trade winds don't appear to have been to a sailing ship's advantage when traveling direct to the Colonies from England.)

[Misson]

Here ya' go, found this while looking for a map of the trade winds:

"By the early 18th century, a complex network of colonial trade was established over the North Atlantic Ocean. This network was partially the result of local conditions and of dominant wind patterns. It was discovered in the 15th century, notably after the voyages of Columbus, that there is a circular wind pattern over the North Atlantic. The eastward wind pattern, which blows on the southern part, came to be known as the "trade winds" since they enabled to cross the Atlantic. The westward wind pattern, blowing on the northern part, came to be known as the "westerlies".

Since sailing ships were highly constrained by dominant wind patterns, a trade system followed this pattern. Manufactured commodities were exported from Europe, some towards the African colonial centers, some towards the American colonies. This system also included the slave trade, mainly to Central and South American colonies (Brazil, West Indies). Tropical commodities (sugar, molasses) flowed to the American colonies and to Europe. North America also exported tobacco, furs, indigo (a dye) and lumber (for shipbuilding) to Europe. This system of trade collapsed in the 19th century with the introduction of steamships, the end of slavery and the independence of many of the colonies of the Americas." [Emphasis mine]

This is from http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch1...tradewinds.html. They have a nice map of the system there as well.

[AllByMeOnesies]

Thanks for the info. In particular I'm thinking of a merchant ship sailing from England to the Carolinas. It appears from the clockwise dominant winds that they would sail south and west before sailing north up toward the Carolinas. That's what I had suspected, and those maps seem to bear that out.