How to improve the speed of ancient mariners

My world is set in ancient times on a planet similar to Earth, but with a different civilization and different geography (and lots of canals). I need to find a way of giving the inhabitants better mobility at sea and on canals. Wind is not reliable enough as it may not blow and when it does blow it might blow from the wrong direction. Human oar power is always available but it's too slow.

What innovations might an ancient civilization utilize to speed up sea transport? Whatever is used needs to be plausibly discoverable or inventible by the ancient society. The society can be considered to be as inquisitive as necessary, but can't use steam power or any more modern sources of power. Historically anachronistic artefacts may be used provided there is a plausible mechanism for their discovery or invention (if used please describe).

posted about 5 years ago

Slarty‭

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