Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/490

 3,000l. to 5,000l. each voyage;[1] but considering the various other privileges and "indulgences" granted to him, and the opportunities he had for trading on his own account in the export and import of goods and produce at a time when the fabulously valuable commerce of India was an exclusive monopoly in the hands of the Company, we need have no hesitation in estimating the value in many instances on each voyage of a commander's appointment at from 8,000l. to 10,000l., or perhaps a great deal more if he was a shrewd man of business, and had sufficient capital to fill the space allotted to him as well as the "dunnage" corners, and "places not allotted to the Com-* [Footnote 1: In 1834, after the Company had been deprived of its trading privileges, and no longer required to maintain its maritime service, Captain Innes, of the chartered ship Abercrombie Robinson, memorialised the Company, in his own name and in that of other commanders, for "compensation for the loss of employment in consequence of the discontinuance of the Company's trade." He therein estimates his "emoluments and income accruing from his appointment as commander, upon an average of his last three voyages," as follows:—                                                                 £   s.  d.

Eighteen months' pay, at 10l. per month                        180  0  0 Fifty-six tons privilege, outward, at 41.     £   s.  d. per ton                                   224  0  0 From port to port, at 30 rupees per candy     336  0  0 Homeward, at 33l. per ton                   1,848  0  0 -     2,408  0  0 Primage                                                         100  0  0 Two-fifths tonnage, from port to port, 478 tons, at 30 rupees per candy            2,868  0  0 Less, charged by the Hon. Co., 2l. per ton    956  0  0 -     1,912  0  0 Passage-money, after allowing for the provisions and stores provided for the passengers                       1,500  0  0 -                                                             6,100  0  0

Making 6,100l. per voyage for the last three voyages, "exclusive of the profits on investments."