In 18th century America, how did people board ships to travel long distance?

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Accepted answer

In your timeframe there should have been routes from Charleston/Savannah to Boston/New York.

The time of day would be based on the tide.

A ship would leave Charleston when the tide was receding (from high to low, towards the ocean), since the receding water would assist the ships movement (otherwise it would have to fight against the water movement). For arrival the opposite.

The exact time would be depend on the condition of the harbour.

The water level must be high enough at low tide to avoid being grounded. The 1780 map of Charleston (top is west, bottom east, right north, left south) below shows why it's harbour was on the Cooper river (right side of the map ; the ocean towards the bottom of the map).

How a ship would be boarded would also depend on the water level at the dock. If too low for the ship type you would have to row out to the ship, otherwise you could board directly at the dock.


From comments:

Based on English Literatur for sea travel in the 19th century, boarding in the early evening was commonly done since: Time and tide wait for no man. In the early 19th century, where passenger services were not common place, it was mainly a Captain's privilege to take on passengers.

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