During the 1600's, what was the price to travel from Europe to the New World? I'm interested in how much each individual would pay, but also how much the trip cost overall (for the ship, sailors, provisions, etc) and how much this would be equivalent to in modern money. Does anyone have any answers relating to this? Thanks!
Could you be a little more specific as to time and place? A journey from Lisbon to Recife was not the same length or cost as a trip from Bristol to Newfoundland.
The cost also would have varied according to the size of the vessel: a forty-ton sloop would be different from a 250-ton brigantine.
As for the former, a 17th-century inventory from York County, Virginia itemized the cost of building a sloop at 4,467 lbs of tobacco. Assuming a value of 20 shillings per hundredweight, this would have been about £50 - which might be in the order of $100,000 in today's dollars.
Assuming that seamen were making about 40 shillings per month - roughly the going rate in the late 17th century - and that a journey from London to Virginia would have taken about 6 to 8 weeks - and assuming a crew of six seamen - this would amount to about £24 to £32 in wages. (Sources: Peter Edward Pope, Fish into Wine; Ian K. Steele, The English Atlantic.)