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Piece of Eight
Conversations about historical piracy and seamanship.
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Curious Researcher
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 Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:20 am Post subject: Historical Tall Ship Travel Distances Questions and More |
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I am writing a fiction novel and I am doing research on a whole bunch of things historical. One of the areas I need information on is the old Tall Sailing Ships (pre-1800's preferably).
I am looking for info on heavy and light merchant ships, galleons, heavy and light ships of war and the fast courier or spy/smugglers vessels.
The questions I have are:
1. How fast do these ships sail? (Translate to MPH) (or tell me how fast a Knot is)
2. How far can they sail (on average) in one 24 hour period?
3. How many crew members are required, and what positions did they hold? (i.e. Captain, First Mate, Surgeon, Cook, Lowly Sailor).
4. How much in the way of supplies would they have to have to support a man and keep the ship in good repair?
If you don't know the answers to my questions do you have any suggestions or know of any sources that may be able to answer my questions? Web sites, books, other societies, museums or anything or anyone else?
Please help, so far, I have not been able to find out anything that I need to know!
Thank you very much for any advice you may give. |
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DThomasTreadwell
Harbormaster
Joined: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 54
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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Hi, CR, and welcome to the site.
I've moved your post into a more relevant topic just to keep things shipshape around here... 
To answer your questions:
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| 1. How fast do these ships sail? (Translate to MPH) (or tell me how fast a Knot is) |
It depends on what kind of ship it is (hull design, sail plan, etc.) and what conditions they're sailing in. One knot = one nautical mile per hour. That equates to 6076 feet per hour. Other way of thinking of it is simply one knot = 1.15 mph.
A fore-and-aft rigged ship like a schooner could reach a top speed of 12 knots in the best conditions--or it could find itself at a standstill if there's no wind at all.
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| 2. How far can they sail (on average) in one 24 hour period? |
Again, it all depends. 
As a writer, I've found that the best thing to do is to decide what I want to have happen, then adjust the ship and weather to fit. The other approach is to find a specific historical example where you know the type of ship, its route and destination, and how long it took to get there, then use that as a model.
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| 3. How many crew members are required, and what positions did they hold? (i.e. Captain, First Mate, Surgeon, Cook, Lowly Sailor). |
I hate to sound redundant, but again, that depends.
What kind of ship is it? How big is it, and what is its purpose? Is it civilian or military?
Fortunately, there are enough historical records from 18th-century voyages that you can piece together a realistic crew. Do a Google search for "crew list", including specifics on the type of ship, if you know it. For example, if you know your ship is a trading vessel making voyages between India and England, Google "crew list" "East India Company". You can do the same for naval vessels, especially if you have the name of a ship that you want to model your fictional vessel on.
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| 4. How much in the way of supplies would they have to have to support a man and keep the ship in good repair? |
Try the same kind of Google search as above, but this time search for "cargo manifest" instead of "crew list." It's also worth reading first-hand accounts from passengers and commanders of ships making transoceanic voyages to see how often they put in for supplies, and what they provisioned.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
DTT
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