[nathanbedford]

More credit to John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams for their Atlantic crossings on America's behalf in ships of their day, some of these crossings were in the dead of winter and extremely perilous due to weather and due to patrols by the British Navy.

[rarestia]

This might be true, but sailors as far back as the 16th century understood that taking a (far) northern Atlantic passage in the winter was a fool’s errand.

The most common and fastest (sailing) route across the Atlantic from Europe and western Africa is south of the northern horse latitude and west from the Cape Verde islands. Thousands of sailing vessels make this trek every year. That’s not to say they couldn’t come across the northern Atlantic, but combined with frigid temperatures and unfavorable easterly weather conditions, it’s not often something undertaken except by the largest oceangoing vessels.

[beaversmom]

John Adams (young Quincy, too) crosses the Atlantic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YHl_0P2EJ4

[Travis McGee]

Yep. They didn't know if a crossing would take 3 weeks or 3 months.

In the earlier days of transatlantic crossings, in 16th and 17th centuries, some estimate that ten percent of ships were lost. But they kept coming.