East India Trade

[rotorgun]

I came across this interesting chart in one of my books, Harbors and High Seas (Henry Holt and Company, 2000, New York) , by Dean King and John B. Hattendorf. It is an excellent companion to the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O' Brian. (Another fine storyteller from your Tribe...er Tribe )

I shall attempt to reproduce it for you. It is based upon statistical data compiled by the Dutch East India company during the years 1790-1795. While a bit earlier than the period we are discussing, it is still of use to us because sailing technologies had not advanced that much by the 1800's.

1. Holland to Cape Town: 8,000 NM 129 Days (62)
2. Cape Town to Batavia: 6,450 NM 85 Days (76)
3. Cape Town to Ceylon: 6,750 NM 97 Days (69)
4. Batavia to Cape Town: 5,900 NM 89 Days (66)
5. Celon to Cape Town: 5,500 NM 64 Days (86)
6. Cape Town to Holland: 7,500 NM 117 Days (64)

NM= Nautical Miles
# Days= Average number of days under sail (excluding stops for water and reprovisioning)
(##)= Average distance in NM of one day's sail

As one can see, the time for the return voyage could be significantly shorter depending on prevailing winds and currents. I'm sure that voyages by faster ships, such as Frigates or Clipper Ships would be made in the future, but for the slow moving East Indiamen, these times would be accurate into the 19th century as well.

Based on Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries (The Hague Martinus Nijhoff, 1987, tables 6,11,15,20) by J.R. Bruijn
Cordially,