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custom as their perquisites the sweepings of the hold, consisting of such parts of the cargo as might from any cause have dropped out of their packages; and numerous charges were made against the inferior members of this class, whose duty it was to take care of the cargo under their charge, that they had been tempted to injure the packages with a view to increase their perquisites. Mr. Colquhoun's treatise furnishes an account of the vessels employed in the trade of London, and of the value of their cargoes, with an estimate of the number of packages plundered in each branch of trade during the year ending the 5th of January, 1798.[1]

From this statement it would appear that in that year there were eighteen hundred and forty-three foreign, and eleven thousand six hundred and one

[Footnote:

-+-+-+-+-+-                                  |          |Tonnage, | Value of  | Estimate    | Estimate of   1              +++including| Imports   |  of the     | the Amount |Foreign.|British.| their  |   and     |  Amount     | of Plunder. |       |        |repeated |  Exports. |of Packages | |       |        | Voyages.|           |out and Home.| -+++-+-+-+-                                  |        |        |         |     £     |             |       £ East Indies                        |     3  |     50 |   41,466| 10,502,000|     300,000 |     25,000 West Indies                       |    11  |    335 |  101,484| 11,013,000      400,000 |    232,000 British American Colonies         |     0  |     68 |   13,986|  1,638,000|      65,000 |     10,000 Africa and Cape of Good Hope      |     0  |     17 |    4,336|    531,000|      20,000 |      2,500 Whale Fisheries, North and South  |     0  |     45 |   12,230|    314,000|      20,000 |      2,000 United States of America          |   140  |      0 |   32,213|  5,416,000|     260,000 |     30,000 Mediterranean and Turkey          |    29  |     43 |   14,757|    509,000|      70,000 |      7,000 Spain and the Canaries            |   119  |      2 |   16,509|    947,000|      60,000 |     10,000 France and Austrian Netherlands   |   121  |      1 |   10,677|  1,015,000|      20,000 |     10,000 Portugal and Madeira              |    55  |    125 |   27,670|    853,000|      50,000 |      8,000 Holland                           |   329  |     0  |   19,166|  2,211,000|      60,000 |     10,000 Germany                           |   172  |     63 |   37,647| 10,672,000|     240,000 |     25,000 Prussia                           |   527  |     81 |   56,955|    432,000|      60,000 |     10,000 Poland                            |    31  |     38 |   17,210|    242,000|      70,000 |      5,000 Sweden                            |   100  |      9 |   14,252|    322,000|      50,000 |      3,000 Denmark                           |   194  |      8 |   48,469|    806,000|      60,000 |      5,000 Russia                            |     5  |    225 |   56,131|  2,017,000|     150,000 |     20,000 Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Man|    4  |     42 |    5,344|    302,000|      15,000 |      2,000 Ireland                           |     3  |    273 |   32,824|  2,539,000|     160,000 |      5,000 Coasting Trade                    |     0  |  6,500 |  560,000|  6,600,000|     900,000 |     20,000 Coal Trade                        |     0  |  3,676 |  656,000|  1,710,000|             |     20,000 +++-+-+-+-                                  | 1,843  | 11,601 |1,776,326| 60,591,000|   3,030 000 |    461,500                Annual loss in tackle, apparel, and stores, of 13,444 vessels            |     45,000 +-               Total depredations, estimated at                                         |    506,500 -+- ]