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    Guild Grand Master Azélor's Avatar
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    Info How far can a ship travel in one day?

    How far can a ship travel in one day?

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


    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?


    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.
    Last edited by Azélor; 03-14-2015 at 03:44 PM.

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