I'm a little unsure on the accuracy of the website I found, https://sea-distances.org/. It looks fine, but some things don't line up. I have a general idea for speeds of 18th century sailing vessels, but the time it should take to sail across a distance (across the Atlantic Ocean, for instance) according to this website at a given speed (say, 5 knots) does not match up with original documents. (Boston to Bristol is 24 days... should be about 6 weeks) Was this time due to storms, sickness, etc.? If so, how much influence did those things have? Or is this website just inaccurate?
That website uses a direct route between places. People that sailed to or from America would follow the currents which takes them in a much more roundabout way.
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/transportation/graphics/atlanticsailroute.gif
Also storms could blow ships way off route and it could take a long time to get back on track. Bad winds could also completely stop your progress for unknown periods of time. You might be stalled for an hour or a month. All that stuff also added to how long it took.
Anyone else have any sources they would like to recommend? I'm at a dead end. Does Lloyd's List (1741) have any useful information? I don't know if it mentions how long the journeys take, just which ships left and arrived.
Or if someone knows off the top of their head the best way to get from Nantes, France, to Jakarta in 1723...
