How long did it take a sailing ship to travel from England to Boston?

Question

My friends and I are writing a novel on Writing.com, The Lair of Pirates. I need to know how long it took for a ship to reach the colonies. Hurry.

Answer 1

Cool stuff. great idea for your book here:

You should read up about Benjamin Franklin and his noting of the Gulf Stream. he noticed by sailing with the current of the Gulf Stream, you could save two weeks off the saling time from Falmouth, England to the east coast of the USA.

He told the Brits about it but they ignored him. What if the pirates also knew the secret but the British Navy did not and could not understand why they could sail the Atlantic so quickly.

Check out:

http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquir...

http://www.broward.org/library/bienes/li...

Mail me your story when done!

And read about Benjamin Franklin. He is one of America's most outstanding people of all time and certainly one of the world's greatest personalities.

Oops - time it took? It took Bartholomew Gosnold seven weeks to sail from Falmouth to Cape Elizabeth (Portland Maine) in 1602 in the Concord. Is that too early? Check Franklin's biography online for the time it took him:

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-...

Answer 2

it depends on the direction of the wind, the current, the weather, the weight of the boat the experience of the saylors, to give a number : at least 3 weeks.

Answer 3

for food for thought checkout the USS UNITED STATES back in her day held the record for the land speed record for a crossing england to boston

Answer 4

That would be a long trip with just the sail powering the boat.

Answer 5

Trans-atlantic sailing routes on tall ships (typical of what pirates would use, perhaps a 150-ton caravel) were about 7,285 kilometers from England to the continental United States.

Ships of Columbus' era, for example, shared many of these characteristics. If you were writing a "pirates of the caribbean"-era book, your pirate ships would travel at rates of anywhere from 2-8 knots, eight being about top speed.

Some basic math gives you an average of about 5 knots, which is 9.2600213 KM/HOUR.

Divide the total distance by this speed and you get about 32 days from New York to London travelling at these speeds. Remember, this matters signficantly on whether the wind and weather holds up

Timothy

Honors Undergraduate Student

Central Connecticut State University

Psychology/Biomolecular Science

Answer 6

About a month with good weather and wind.

Answer 7

two months