In August in the mid 17th century, how long might it have taken for a
schooner carrying a dozen people and their baggage to sail from Boston
Harbor to Southampton, Long Island?

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Request for Question Clarification by thx1138-ga on 13 Jul 2006 09:24 PDT

Hello memoirist and thank you for your question.

An interesting question to research!  However, it would seem the first
schooners appeared only in the early eighteenth century, see below:


"A brief history of Schooners and Sailing Yachts

The schooner is a sailing ship rigged with fore-and-aft sails on its
two or more masts. Though probably developing out of a Dutch design of
the 17th Century, the first genuine schooner was developed in the
British North American colonies, probably at Gloucester,
Massachusetts, in 1713, by a shipbuilder named Andrew Robinson.

According to tradition the word schooner was first used when a new
vessel was launched at the shipyard of Andrew Robinson. It has been
said that when the vessel entered the water that a spectator remarked,
?Oh, how she scoons!? Upon which Robinson replied: ?a schooner let her
be?. By the end of the 18th Century the schooner had become the most
important North American ship, used for coastal trade and fishing. The
Schooner can be recognized for her two to as many as ten masts."
http://www.jmxco.com/product.aspx?intProdID=1387&pid=185&cid=

Also if we try the following search "schooners in the * century" OR
"century schooners" ://www.google.com/search?q=%22schooners+in+the+*+century%22+OR+%22century+schooners%22&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&as_qdr=all&start=30&sa=N
which yeilds 647 results there are almost no references to 17th
century schooners, so I think it is unlikely that there would be a
schooner travelling between Boston and Southampton in the 1640's.

Maybe another type of ship would be more historically accurate?

Regards

THX1138

This is a website about the voyage of replica of a 17th c. ship.

http://www.qsl.net/wa4chq/godspeed.html
http://www.qsl.net/wa4chq/faq.html

In the FAQs you will find that the voyage of 6000+ miles took a little
over 3 months, suggesting an average speed of 65 miles per day, which
I expect neglects much distance in tacking, but you can contact the
site and maybe get better information.

On Google Earth, I measured a straight line distance from Boston past
Cape Cod, wouth to off Nantucket, and the west to Southampton, total
260 miles, but, of course the actual sailing distance would be
significantly greater.
This suggests a passage of about one week.

If a smaller vessel, perhaps a fore-and-aft rigged sloop was used, it
might have stayed closer to shore, lengthening the voyage, but PERHAPS
sailing faster.

Just a free comment.