I'm writing a fantasy novel that takes place in a Medieval setting. There is no gunpowder, so there are no cannons on the ship. The ship itself is a Chinese-style Junk Ship(note: the novel does not take place in our world, so it's not necessarily a "Chinese" ship; therefore the voyage itself isn't from China) of average size. It is carrying a total of 45 passengers: a free company of 34 well-armed and equipped mercenaries, 1 assassin/bodyguard, and 10 crew members that actually pilot and sail the ship(is 10 enough? Too high or low? Can't get a definitive answer). There are no horses or other animals of any kind on the ship. The journey is between two continents. If the winds and tide were(for the most part) in the ship's favor, how long would a 3500 nautical mile journey take, and how often would the ship have to stop along the way(to resupply and whatnot)? Also assume that the winds and tide behave similarly to the winds and tide of our world. Assume that the ship did not run into any conflict with other ships; no pirates or anything. If possible, take storms into account.
Thank you.
There are way too many variables here for me to be able to offer a complete answer to your question, but I've researched the voyages undertaken by Dutch ships sailing from the Netherlands to the Far East via the Cape of Good Hope in the early modern era, and can offer the following general comments based on their experience – note that the basic design was pretty different to that of junks.
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