Page 19 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

5.

latter types to reach East India in less time and to visit

ports not hazarded by larger ships. These vessels were often

at sea for a year or more sailing from port to port in search

for profitable trade.

Because of the conditions governing the East India

trade, the shipmaster was of utmost importance to his mer­

chant-employer. Lack of communication between merchant and

ship forced the merchant to rely on his captain for decisions

that ordinarily he would make. Only the captain could be

aware of the exact market conditions at a foreign port. Con­

temporary methods of ocean transportation lent further weight

to the captain's decisions. The state of markets in ports

both in the United States and abroad at the time of a vessel's

departure often varied considerably by the time the vessel

reached the foreign ports and returned. A merchant therefore

was very dependent on his master in making commercial profits.

Employing a man who was simultaneously a good seacaptain and

a skilled businessman was almost essential. Although merchants

eventually sent a supercargo on the voyage to handle the trade,

they gave their masters immense discretionary powers over where

to trade and what cargoes to bring back. Often at the end of

an East Indian voyage a merchant would discover his vessel had
4
completely changed cargoes several times before returning.

4
Samuel Eliot Morison, Maritime History of Massachusetts
(Boston and New York, 1925), pp. 84-85.