Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/474

 at a later date. This difficulty in obtaining transportation was doubtless in general confined to years in which prices had sunk to a low point. At the same time, it was well known that the masters of vessels were unwilling to accept the hogsheads of persons who refused to consign their tobacco to the merchants in England who owned these vessels. The planter would not infrequently write to his correspondent in New England to procure a ship in that region, and to send it to Virginia to transfer his crop to London or Bristol, or he would for the same purpose contract with a master who had brought in a cargo from the West Indies, and in such agreements several persons would sometimes unite. Whenever it was the habit of certain colonists to export their hogsheads in a particular ship, there was an indisposition on the part of others to anticipate them, even though a full opportunity to do so presented itself.

In spite of the inconveniences to which the planters were so frequently exposed in obtaining freight, they seem to have felt no very strong inclination to purchase a share in a large vessel. Among those who acquired a part or an entire interest in a ship were Samuel Bayly, John Rice, Edmund Scarborough, Stephen Charlton, Francis Emperor, Thomas Butts, Henry Goodrich, Nicholas Scott, Thomas Stegge, William Pryor, Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., Richard Lee, and John Page. It was not