Nelson & His World

In a letter to Captain Keats of the Superb (19th May 1805) Nelson wrote: ‘I am fearful that you may think the Superb does not go as fast as I could wish. However that may be ( for if we all went ten knots I should not think it fast enough) yet I would have you be assured that I feel and know that the Superb does all which is possible for a Ship to accomplish….’

Are Nelson’s ‘ten knots’ here an ‘in your dreams’ almost impossible speed, or might a ship in good shape and in favourable conditions achieve this?

Was it ever possible to make an estimate of the length of time a journey might take? One convict ship to Australia mentioned in Sian Rees’s book, ‘The Floating Brothel’ made the journey in six months; another took twelve months, having encountered all sorts of reversals and at one point made only ‘a mile an hour’ when she was becalmed in the doldrums, and had to be towed.

With all the incalculables inherent in a sea journey in the age of sail, when might a ship begin to be regarded as ‘overdue’?

As you point out, relying totally on the wind and sea means that any journey time will be variable; I would think that for a long voyage (i.e. to India or Australia), then experience would suggest a typical or expected voyage time; i.e. it should take this long...but may be shorter/longer.

As to speeds achieved, again these were variable; most frigates could achieve 12 knots - I believe the Endymion (1795) claimed over 14 knots. The larger ships, such as Superb, could usually make 10 knots in the right conditions.

Many thanks, PN. Just out of interest I Google 'Pickle' to find out how long her journey from Trafalgar to Falmouth took, bringing the news of the victory. Leaving Collingwood at noon on 27th October, she reached England on 4th of November in the early hours of the morning, having encountered some difficult weather on the way; so just over a week for a journey of ...how long? And can anyone calculate her average speed?

http://www.twogreens.co.uk/wakeup/articles/pickle.htm

The speed of any sailing ship was, and is, relative and we should not forget that the notion of speed as applied to such a ship was rather different from that used for the powered ships of today, since it was powered by a natural element that was not, and is not, constant. Therefore a ship's speed should not be thought of as related to that of a car, for example - as in, 'she can go from 0 to 60 in such and such a time,' or could be driven at say 50mph indefinitely – or as long as the petrol lasts! This means little in nautical terms, probably now and certainly not then.

A sailing ship's speed was decided by many factors, the weather at the time, the wind direction and strength, the ship's course, whether the right amount of sail was set according to the existing conditions, whether the ship had a 'clean' hull below the waterline, was the ship fully laden with stores or was she somewhat depleted in that regard (the stores having to be moved around to maintain the best stability) , the skill of the crew, and not least, the captain's understanding his ship sufficiently to know how she would handle in various conditions.

Speed often varied between ships which to all intents, purposes and outward appearance were the same, were on the same point of sailing, eg. a reach, or close hauled, yet behaved very differently. It was very difficult to account for this, save by trial and error, even to where the ships were of the same class and dimensions. In the sailing world of today it is known that amongst sister ships, there is a often a marked difference in their handling.

To the matter in hand, Nelson's letter was of course written to Keats during the long chase to the West Indies, in search of Villeneuve's fleet, prior to Trafalgar. The Superb, it would seem, was a poor sailer but, to be charitable, this may have been due to the particular course they were on and the wind direction as they crossed the Atlantic. She may have handled differently in other circumstances. Keats was a good captain and we can be sure he was trying to get the best out of his ship, a fact which Nelson recognised in his letter – and makes a joke of, to put Keats at his ease. Victory herself was known to be a good sailer, managing 10-11 knots when running before the wind, but even she could only manage 3-4 knots close-hauled to the wind and in a head sea, in keeping with many other ships and which was only to be expected.