Page 15 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

CHAPTER I

ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN EAST INDIA TRADE

In December 1818 Capt. Henry Bancroftg master of the

ship "Sachem," received his sailing orders and weighed anchor

for a voyage to East India. Capt. Bancroft first sailed to

Gibralter, where he exchanged his cargo of flour and food­

stuffs for specie. From the Mediterranean the ship headed

down the long coast of Africa, doubled the Cape of Good Hope,

crossed the IndianOcean, and finally arrived in East India.

In the nineteenth century all of Asia east of the Cape of Good

Hope was known to Americans as East India. Capt. Bancroft's

orders on this voyage to East India were simply to procure a

profitable cargo. Ports which the "Sachem's" owners deemed

advisable to visit included Batavia (Java) for coffee, spices

and rice, Manila for sugar, hemp and rice, and Canton for teas,

silks and nankins (nankeens). The captain might fill his cargo
at the first port or he might have to stop at all three, trading

specie and some of the cargo procured earlier to make a profit.

If market conditions were poor at Batavia, Manila and Canton,

the ship could head westward and try the Indian market at

Calcutta. From East India Capt. Bancroft had orders to sail to

Rotterdam and finally Boston. Such a voyage might easily

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