How fast did pirate ships go

No matter how much you adjust the angle of the sail, you cannot sail directly toward the direction of the wind. But by fine adjustments the ship can sail at less than a 90 degree angle to the wind. Into a north wind, a ship can sail northeast of northwest. Still - how do you sail right into the wind?

Well, if the ship is traveling northeast, and suddenly turns into the wind, it will, if properly handled, face due north for a second, then keep turning to the west until it is sailing northwest.

Keep doing this, and the ship follows a zigzag track, which averages out to due north. A ship with the moveable, triangular sail can always travel closer to the wind than a ship with square sails, which are not as adjustable.

This is why, in spite of what movies tell us, that pirates preferred the triangular-sailed for-and-aft rigged ship over the bigger square-rigged ships. They could so to speak make the kessel run in 12 parsecs. Speed at sea is measured in knots, a knot being one nautical mile per hour and unit of speed equal to one nautical mile which is defined as 1.

Records as to the rate of sailing are of necessity very indefinite, the speed depending on so many varying circumstances, as it was mentioned earlier. Nelson's passage to the West Indies and back was made at an average rate of about 4 knots. 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. 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.

Not very agile , pirates were not likely to choose a square-rigged ship as their first choice, but would be great for stealing large amounts of booty. You might have seen these kinds of ships among a pirate fleet. The Dutch Fleut This ship was perfectly designed for carrying large amounts of cargo. Flat-bottomed, wide and strong, this was not very swift and weighed over tons. Pirates would have plenty of space to customize this ship with canons and guns , but many preferred to steal its cargo and leave the ship.

Galleons A Spanish design, the galleon combined the need to carry cargo and be able to defend itself at the same time with cannons. A galleon, could sustain a crew of over with more than 70 canons and guns.