And the Susan Constance, Godspeed, and Discovery set sail down the Thames at 
Christmas time and landed at Cape Henry in late March.
Kitty


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clay Gullatt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: Slow goin' + migration travel time -Mayflower-Ark-Dove


> The only reference to the Mayflower was in connection as to how long it 
> took to get back and forth across the North Atlantic against and with the 
> Gulf Stream and the stormy weather encountered and how much faster the 
> return trip was. We are talking about travel time and nothing more. If the 
> Ark and Dove took the same route at the same time of the year they would 
> have encountered the same problems.
>
> Note that 100 to 200 years later the fast clipper ships only made 3 MPH on 
> the trip from England to the US. Only with steam ships was the northern 
> passage made faster. Many of them went over the top north of the Gulf 
> Stream with a whole new set of problems ice burgs as the Titanic found 
> out.
>
> As Meteorologist for Commander Second Fleet I  sailed these routes back 
> and forth 3 times aboard a large Navy Command Ship during the Sep-Oct 
> period during the early 1980s including once over the top.  I can verify 
> that it indeed is a stormy and dangerous trip especially for such small 
> ships as the Ark, Dove and Mayflower. In some of the storms they would 
> have encountered 40 to 60 foot seas and hurricane force winds.
>
> The 1600s were also during the cold of the Little Ice Age (coldest points 
> 1650, 1770, 1800/1870) while the Vikings made their trips over the top 
> during the Medieval Climate Optimum (10th-14th century) when it was as or 
> warmer than it is today. You should also take into account these cold 
> periods when Americans were moving westward across the US, travel in 
> winter would not have been easy. I remember reading in Weather Wise 
> magazine that Chesapeake Bay was frozen solid in the 1800s enough that a 
> train engine was placed on a barge and pulled from Baltimore MD to Norfolk 
> VA.
>
> The Spanish and Portuguese took the easier Trade Route down the West Coast 
> of African then with the NE Trade Winds to the West Indies. This way you 
> had sea currents and winds mostly in your favor all the way.
>
> I doubt that many Americans today would even think of undertaking such 
> dangerous crossings in such small vessels as out ancestors did. Our 
> ancestors were indeed determined, bold and courageous men, women and 
> children regardless of which colony they were going to.
>
> Clay Gullatt
> USN Ret.
>
>
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