How fast do pirate ships go

The great advantage of the sloops were that they were quick and could attack swiftly and get away fast with a top speed of over 10 knots. Another advantage is that it could hide in shallower waters to escape warships because of its shallow draft. Schooners Another favorite of the pirates of the Caribbean and Atlantic were the two-masted schooner.

Like the sloop, this boat was fast, easy to maneuver and enjoyed a large capacity for guns and cannons. A narrower hull and even shallower draft meant it could easily hide in shallow estuaries and escape its enemies. Brigantines Another shallow-draft boat, the brigantine was popular in the Mediterranean thanks to its great maneuverability and speed.

Oars were also common in some designs that could be employed during low winds. This kind of boat was favored for longer battles targeting large spoils with its larger hold and great firepower. Could also hold over men. Square-rigged Ships These were more often than not merchant ships, identified by their large square sails and three masts.

The large hold meant that they were slow but great for longer crossings. He went into action at Trafalgar at less than 3 knots according to Sir Percy Watts who read his thesis at the Institution of Naval Architects, July 19th Another very useful account, Square Riggers on Schedule Princeton University Press, , gives the following New York to Liverpool passage times for North Atlantic sailing packets in the period as follows:.

With an average distance of approximately 3, miles, this equates to a range of about to miles per day, or an average speed over the ground of about 4 to 6 knots. Visit Us. Search Want to search our collection? Search here. We use cookies to ensure you have the best browsing experience and to help us improve our website. Find out more Accept Cookies. Close cookie banner. They ignore the fundamental fact that the speed of a sailing ship depends first and foremost on the direction of the wind.

Against the wind, miles can take as long as or longer than miles with the wind. Columbus flew to America with the trade winds at his heels. When he met contrary winds while working north along the coast of South America he was lucky if he logged one mile forward an hour. To combine the two voyages to strike an average speed will produce nothing worthwhile beyond some practice in arithmetic.

In the study of the speed of ancient voyages, the very first step must be to classify them according to the winds encountered en route. A sailing vessel travels best under a wind that is blowing from some point abaft the beam. The ship can then move at its fastest directly toward its destination. Such a wind, whether blowing directly over the stern or over the quarters i. Unfavorable or "foul" winds are those that blow from some point ahead. These force a vessel to tack, i.

The vessel heels heavily, the decks are forever wet with spray, and the sails are constantly being reset. When the destination lies 80 degrees to the right or left of the direction from which the wind is blowing, a vessel can head directly for it.

More often the destination lies either nearer than 80 degrees or right in the eye of the wind and then the ship must tack back and forth in zigzag fashion. This is the most time-consuming course of all since it forces the vessel actually to cover far more distance than a straight line to its goal would measure. Fortunately, in many cases we are specifically told what the wind conditions during the voyage were.

Where we are not told we can often, by using modern hydrographic information concerning prevailing winds, make a very good guess. All must have been made, of course, before favorable winds.

The variation reflects the two factors mentioned above, that some winds are stronger and some ships faster than others, a point that can be best illustrated by the voyage between Ostia and Africa. The record crossing took, as Pliny shows us, two days.

Possibly the wind, although from the right direction, was not very strong. Let us now compare Pliny's record runs with other voyages of which we have knowledge. Here are seven, each one of which we are specifically told was made under favorable wind conditions. Vita Ap. Severus, Dial. The exception, Apollonius' voyage from Puteoli to Tauromenium, must have been made with a very slow ship or very light breezes or probably both.

On the second long leg of the journey, from Syracuse to the mouth of the Alpheus, the same ship logged but 2. Four knots is somewhat slower than we have been led to expect, especially for a pirate ship which must have been a light, fast craft. The ship very likely was overloaded since it had made a capture the second day out and traveled the rest of the way burdened with the spoils.

Sulpicius Severus in one of his dialogues 1. The distance is about nautical miles, which works out to an average speed of 4. In the following instances we are not given the record of an actual voyage but are told the usual time it took to cross from one point to another.

As it happens, all involve sailing with favorable winds. Wars 7. Vita Porphyr. The run from Byzantium or Thessalonica to Rhodes involves coasting along the shores of islands or the mainland, a process more time-consuming than sailing directly over open water. Vessels could not reach their maximum speed until they met the waters south of Rhodes.

When we combine all the above evidence we find that under favorable wind conditions, ancient vessels averaged between 4 and 6 knots over open water, and 3 to 4 knots while working through islands or along coasts.

Voyages Made With Unfavorable Winds The difference in speed when traveling before and against the wind can most graphically be illustrated by several of the voyages of Mark the Deacon. We saw above that sailing with a following wind he made from Byzantium to Rhodes in 5 days and from Byzantium to Gaza in The return trip in both cases took just twice as long. The prevailing wind in these waters in NW. A vessel making the voyage would theoretically travel on a port tack the whole distance.

If the wind, however, backed merely a point or so as is extremely common, it would cease being unfavorable. The second, the voyage from Ascalon to Thessalonica, is patently extraordinarily fast since it took but one day longer than the trip the other way see above which was favored by the wind from start to finish. The very low average of the last voyage was caused by a heavy storm encountered en route. This information is given in Table 1.

It must be remembered that the figures refer to direct voyages over more or less open water. Regular figures are from the voyages listed in the text above. And here we come to a problem that has never been touched: how fast could a fleet sail? Dion Wars 3. We must not include voyages where it is likely that oars played a part.

We may use those in which supply ships participated, for a fleet's speed is determined by its slowest members and the swift triremes would have no occasion to run out their oars when they had to dawdle alongside slow-sailing transports.

We may also use voyages that lasted several days or more.