The National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Research Question: How to get from Calais to Portsmouth in 1618 - when supposedly heading to Dover?
In May 2023 I found myself in Cornwall. By this stage of my travels the manuscripts about the life of Milady were more or less finished so I gave myself permission to travel for idle curiosity rather than chasing down historical leads. Of course, there were still many unanswered questions.
One of these niggling doubts was about transporting Milady from France (Calais) to England (Dover?) I wanted her to blow into Portsmouth. What sort of boat? I wanted there to be a type of cabin to hide away in. What sort of weather? How long could this trip reasonably be expected to take? Due to the pandemic lockdowns many of my impertinent questions by email to various yacht clubs and sailing experts had gone unanswered.
I was thrilled, therefore, when I discovered The Bartlett, Maritime Research Centre and Library, National Maritime Museum Cornwall provided a service where I could physically present a volunteer researcher with my questions. A few weeks later I received an email and I was only too happy to send a donation by return. I post the informative response here in the hopes readers will find it as interesting and helpful as I did.
Dear Victoria
I may have the answers to some of your questions or at least provide you with the information from which you can deduce your own answers.
Dealing first with the vessel itself:
In Jenny Bennett's book "Sailing into the Past" there is marine art depiction of a typical vessel of that period. There is another shown in Ronald Hope's book " A New History of British Shipping" , but perhaps the most helpful is to compare your proposed fictional vessel with the Mayflower, a model of which is featured in The National Maritime Museum's "Catalogue of Ship Models to 1815".
This type of vessel would only just be able to sail at best at 70 degrees to the wind as illustrated and described in Falconer's Marine Dictionary of 183
Turning now to consider the weather: Vol II of the Admiralty' Channel Pilot gives a table of recorded wind strengths and directions at Calais over the years, with the month of February showing a high proportion of winds from the North West and 6 days of strong winds (over 31 knots). Looking at the chart contained in the same publication if the wind was NW a sailing vessel of that period could at best steer a notional course of WSW rather than NW which is the course from Calais to Dover. A good summary of the perils associated with English Channel weather is given in King's "The Pilots Handbook for the English Channel"
The vessel would also suffer Leeway and the possibility of a 2.5 knot SW going tidal stream, refer Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas for the Dover Strait.
In the book "The Voyage of Mayflower II" by W. Charlton there is a description of the voyage made by Mayflower's replica including an extract from the log book which implies a speed of 8 knots with a fair wind , however it also relates (page 252) that the crew took down all the sails and needed a tow once the wind reached 30 knots from the wrong direction.
Your fictional vessel would probably be suffering from a fouled bottom compared with the newly constructed Mayflower replica so a more realistic speed through the water I suggest would be 6 knots. The consequent speed over the ground would thus be greatly influenced by the tidal streams. I have therefore attached a diagram of the tidal streams given in the Shell Pilot to the English Channel Vol I .
The distance between Calais and Spithead (adjacent to Portsmouth Harbour entrance) is given as 116 nautical miles in King's Pilot. Thus at 6 knots she would take around 20 hours, depending on the state of the tide at departure, and any change in the wind direction. Also to be born in mind is the effect of say a SW flowing tide with a NE strong wind, i.e. wind against tide, which would produce a very rough sea particularly in shallower waters, which would further slow the vessel.
The general layout and feel of your fictional vessel is probably best found in "The Voyage of Mayflower II" by W. Charlton.
Finally I came across an amusing description of a voyage undertaken by Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury in 1609 similar to the one you wish to describe on pages 84-86 of "The Mercantile Marine" by E. Keble Chatterton
Hope you find the above and the associated 12 attachments of interest and helps you with your book.
Richard Fuller
Research Enquiry No.: 2023.050
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pp. Tony Pawlyn
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