Rates of freight.
- ledge[1] for the purpose of ballast. It further provided
that notwithstanding "the ship is let to freight for four hundred and ninety-nine tons, yet the Company may, if they think fit, lade what more they please," at certain rates. The rates of freight varied. For instance, from China the freights on rough goods were 24l. per ton in 1753; 37l. in 1760; and 29l. in 1772. Fine goods in the same years paid 27l., 40l., and 32l. respectively. The freights from Bombay in these years were somewhat higher; and the rate of demurrage[2] per day was 12l. 2s. in 1753, 20l. 3s. 4d. in 1760, and 18l. 3s. in 1772.
Gross earnings. Voluminous accounts were produced of the vessels employed, their capacity and cost. Those engaged for India in 1772 will suffice to furnish an illustration. In that year thirty-three ships were employed by the Company, of twenty-three thousand one hundred and fifty-nine tons, builder's measurement, which brought home twenty-one thousand one hundred and fifty-eight tons of merchandise, the cost of freight amounting to 457,600l., besides an allowance for surplus freight of 95,390l. 16s. 8d., and 57,733l. 11s. 4d. paid for demurrage. From a return furnished of the China ships engaged during the five years preceding 1773, the Company appears to have imported fifty thousand three hundred and forty-three tons of produce, in vessels registering forty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-five tons, builder's measurement.
