Vandals in Africa

In 429 some 80,000 Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and settled in North Africa. What puzzles me is that this number isn't challenged at all, althought some historians say 50,000. I'm not a specialist on Ancient maritime history, but I guess it would take months, maybe years to ship so many people and their belongings. 

So my question is: is there any discussion about the number of Vandals and the way this invasion / migration took place?

It would depend on how many ships were available. My guess is that there were plenty, many travelling to assist in the hope of a suitable profit.

1 hour ago, caldrail said:

It would depend on how many ships were available. My guess is that there were plenty, many travelling to assist in the hope of a suitable profit.

That sounds correct to me. (I will usually defer to Caldrail on any military matter.) You may also want to reach out to Ian Hughes (Sonic). He is a contributor on this site and a prodigious author about the late Empire. If fact, he wrote a book on Belisarius.

Actually, a  more relevant book would be the one on Gaiseric:

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Gaiseric-Hardback/p/13684

Assuming the Vandals weren't carrying lots of gear, then for a one way journey en masse around 2400 Roman ships were required. Clearly that was not the case. If we allow two waves over a week, 1200 ships. Two weeks, 600 ships. Four weeks, or a month roughly speaking, 300 ships. Two months, a more realistic 150 ships. Four months, 75 ships. This is of course mathematical speculation and assumes a great deal, but you get the point? Over the course of a good weather summer period the entire 80,000 (which might be an exaggeration anyway, Romans were pretty bad at large numbers!) gets across in style, though the ship crews might be getting tired by then and the rate of travel would in fact slow down as the operation progressed, so by six or seven months even in such sweeping terms the operation is feasible.

Speak of the Devil. LoL