How far would you travel on a boat in seven hours?
I'm writing a report on the Ancient Athenians. I have a paragraph on why the Athenians are better than the Spartans and as one of my details I have that Sparta is 25 miles away from the coast and it would take eight hours to reach it. Athens on the other hand is 4 miles away from the coast and it would take them a little more than an hour. So what I need to know is how far the Athenians could travel on an ancient boat if they sailed for seven hours.
Ancient Athenians used "Triremes" as their main warships. These were approx 37m in length and powered by 3 rows of rowers (170 oars).
Classical sources suggest that the trireme was capable of sustained speeds of approx. 6 knots at a relatively leisurely pace. These figures were corroborated by the tests conducted with a reconstructed trireme - the "Olympias" which had a maximum speed of 8 knots and a steady speed of 4 knots with half the crew resting at a time.
So for your answer:
At a leisurely speed - 4knots x 7hours = 28 Nautical miles
At a cruising speed = 6knots x 7hours = 42 Nautical miles
At a push (short bursts) = 8 x 7 = 56 Nautical Miles
On the other hand, if you're referring to more normal "working boats" then these would be significantly slower, averaging more akin to 2-4 knots. These would rely more heavily on sail as they couldn't support any numbers of rowers.
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