# Mapping Resources > Reference Material >  How far can a ship travel in one day?

## Azélor

How far can a ship travel in one day?

This is a thread inspired by http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...ad.php?t=19730

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Wind speed of different areas:* 

Doldrums: weak but frequent storms
Trade-winds: 25-30 kmph on average
Horse latitudes: weak winds
Westerlies: 
Polar easterlies:
Other?

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Type of ships and their speed:* 

raft and other simple boats: very rudimentary boat with no steering. Move with the current and by rowing. Some also have sails. Kon-Tiki average speed on the Pacific expedition was 2,8 kmph: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki
Between 1,6 kmph and 2,5 kmph on the Nile against the flow of water: http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/...n.htm#shipping

Dhow, small rudimentary ship
Galley: Most galley had sails but also depended heavily on rowing. 
Junk: large Chinese ship 8 to 10 knots ?
Medieval riverboat: Used to move material on rivers. 

Cog : medieval trade ship

Hulk
Caravel: Ship form the late 15th century. It was small and affordable for explorations. They had 2 or 3 mast and used triangular sails mostly.  7,4 kmph on average and 15 at top speed http://www-labs.iro.umontreal.ca/~va...ips_Discovery/
Carrack: Ship form the 16th century. Larger than the caravel, they use square sails that require more crew-members but are more efficient. The ship was used to transport material and troops over long distance. Vasco de Gamma average speed was between 5-6 km/h over the course of his voyage to India. He took advantage of the monsoon winds. 

Clipper, which is a fast travelling ship with 3 mast of the 19th century can travel as fast as the trade-winds. But can carry only a small quantity of goods.
Windjammer is like a clipper but has more mast (up to 5 or 6), can travel at the same speed but can carry more merchandise.

Ship of the line: These are warships divided between different categories by the British Navy (First to fourth rate). Powerful compared to the merchant ship, they maximize the number of cannon but sacrifice speed and manoeuvrability. Higher class ship are the heaviest and less manoeuvrable.

Steamboat: ships for small distance (on rivers for example), there were not really efficient and used pad-wheels. Appeared in the end of the 18th century.
Steam ship: Used propellers . SS Archimede in 1839 became the first steamship. The first ships were not efficient enough and also relied on sails, unlike the steamboat. 
Steam liner: starting around 1870, the steam engine became more efficient and the usefulness of sails deceased afterwards.  Sails ships were eventually decommissioned. 

More modern boats ?

I will try to find more information on different boats. I've already included some types of ships.

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## Peter 67

Don't forget to factor in the time of year and direction of travel, ocean currents, costal or deep sea and probably about another hundred variables. This will end up even more difficult than horse and foot travel. Best go with somewhere between a day and a year to travel any given distance!!!

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## Ghostman

Professor emeritus Lionel Casson discusses this topic in the context of Mediterranean sailing during the classical antiquity in his book _Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World_. He estimates that most sailing ships of the time made an *average* speed of 4-6 knots under favourable wind over open waters, and less than 2-2½ knots sailing against the wind. (p. 288, 291) The actual speed for any particular voyage during that era could be significantly faster or slower than these average figures, though. This also consides only the typical speeds of individual ships, which as professor Casson notes, cannot be taken as an indication for the speed of a fleet of ships. A fleet only travels as fast as it's slowest element. For fleets he provides the estimate of 2-3 knots under favourable wind, and no better than 1-1½ knots under light or unfavourable winds. (p. 296)

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## Peter 67

It's also just dealing with a relatively shallow sea with completely different dynamics to ocean travel, the ships that sailed accross the Med became costal huggers out in the Atlantic ocean. The realative ease in sailing in the Meds the reason that so many sailing nations grew up there, even transporting their experience of the Med to the narrow English Channel caused the Roman Navy a major headache. Plus most of the ships of that time relied heavily on oars rather than sails for their mo t ive power.

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