Page:History of India Vol 7.djvu/24

 4 THE "SEP ABATE VOYAGES " OF THE COMPANY culties arose in disposing of the cargoes for cash. The subscribers had to take part payment in pepper and sell it as best they might; nor was it until 1609 that the affairs of the first voyage of 1601 could be wound up and the profits finally distributed. They amounted to 95 per cent, on the subscription; a large return if it had been quickly realized. The ordinary rate of interest was then 8 per cent, per annum, and the 95 per cent, profits only yielded 9% per cent, if calculated over the ten years from the subscription in 1600— not a tempting reward for a risky voyage and the long vexations of winding up. But part of the 95 per cent, had been distributed in previous years. As a matter of fact, the Company seemed on the return of its first expedition in 1603 to be at its last gasp. It required at once to find £35,000 for seamen's wages and the king's dues; the plague had closed the market for its spices, and no money could be raised on loans. The Charter of 1600 authorized the sending forth of " six good ships and six good pinnaces at all times " during fifteen years, yet three years had passed and only four ships had sailed. Elizabeth seems to have expected a yearly expedition. In November, 1601, she notified her " mislike of the slackness of the Company,' ' " propounding unto them the example of the Dutch, who do prosecute their voyages with a more honourable resolution." By 1603 the Privy Council lost patience at the prolonged delay, and the Company found itself compelled to project a second voyage. The governor had in 1601 been directed to examine