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Sailing Ship Technology, Navigation and the Duration of Voyages to Australia, 1848-85

Author

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  • Timothy J. Hatton

Abstract

Sailing ships persisted on emigrant voyages to Australia until the late nineteenth century and passage durations decreased by three weeks from the late 1840s to the mid-1880s. The shortening of voyages by sail has been linked to improvements in navigation and in sailing ship technology but without quantitative estimates. Analysis of 311 voyages of emigrant ships that sailed directly from a UK port to Adelaide from 1848 to 1885 shows that the decline in voyage duration was associated with increases in tonnage, iron construction and, above all, clipper-style ship design. Advances in ship technology also enabled captains to take fuller advantage of sailing the so-called great circle route to Australia. Examining a unique dataset of the tracks of 290 voyages from Europe to Melbourne in 1854-62, I find that larger and clipper-style ships reduced voyage durations, both directly, because they were faster on a given track, and indirectly, because they could better exploit the great circle route.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy J. Hatton, 2024. "Sailing Ship Technology, Navigation and the Duration of Voyages to Australia, 1848-85," CEH Discussion Papers 07, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:hpaper:123
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    File URL: https://cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEH/WP202407.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Colonial Australia; Sailing ships; Voyage durations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • N77 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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