How fast could a cargo ship travel in 16th the century?

Specifically, I'm wondering how long a ship of that time period would take to get from Greece to DenmarkHow fast could a cargo ship travel in 16th the century?
A Carrack of the day would have made the trip in roughly 2 to 3 weeks. This would depend on season and stormsHow fast could a cargo ship travel in 16th the century?
Actually, this is not much different than today. Advances in this area were due to:





1) Better routes: Going from Greece to Denmark did not leave much room for better routes.





2) Better engines: Sail Boats have more power than most power boats, but cannot provide the same push speed. In general, the real problem in the 16th century was not related to the power available, but rather to the friction of the hull.





3) The ability to sail into the wind. The trip from Greece to the Atlantic would be into the wind most of the time, and would cause an increase in sailing time in order to tack back and forth. This would about double the distance they needed to sail.





4) The LWL (length along the water) hull length: The friction of the hull, and thus the power requirements depended on the maximum hull speed. This is the natural speed of an ocean wave the same length as the hull. As the speed of the boat nears its maximum hull speed, the friction increases exponentially. This is still a problem, but we normally use longer hulls today, which naturally have higher hull speeds.





The formula for the maximum hull speed (which can be overcome with enough power, or ';skimming across top top';) is:





Maximum Speed in Knotts = 2.3 * sqrt(lenght in feet along the water)





Normally, the friction is such that the realized speed will be 70% of hull speed with a good wind.





Thus, if you chose a 100 foot merchant ship, the speed would be about 8 knotts in the Mediterrainian, and 16 knotts in the open ocean for ideal conditions. Due to the lack of ideal conditions, the 8 knotts would usually be 6 knotts, and the 16 knotts would usually be 12 knotts.





Bad waves, calm days, ripped sails, etc. dropps the actual progress to about 75% of the ideal.





As you get above 100 feet for sailing vessels, you do get more speed, but having wind fast enough every day is less likely to happen. You normally do not get to go 12 knotts down wind with only a 10 knott wind. Try going 16 knotts, and it is even more difficult.





So measure the distances the ship travels, take into account ocean currents, and winds, and port stops. You can get a fairly good estimate.
Several factors come into play when determining that. An empty cargo ship with full sail in the Spring could make it that distance in one to two weeks.





Factors that come into play: Season or weather, type of cargo, size of vessel, type of vessel, age of vessel, number of sails, number of crew, docking stops in between, the experience of the crew, experience of the captain, etc.
You mean they had cargo ships in those days.


I didn't think so.


Most were for exploring.
A very lopng time!