Why did people adopt oarless ships in the early modern period? Were they faster or cheaper to use?

by [deleted]
Momoneko

Question to the mods: if I heard an answer to this but not sure if it's true, can I phrase it as "I heard/read it was because X, is this true?", or will such a comment be deleted? Because I'm genuinely interested if that's the right answer but creating almost the same thread to ask this would be wasteful.