A Respectable Trade. Philippa Gregory

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ do,’ Josiah said swiftly, glancing towards the top table where Mr Waring had summoned one of the masters of his ship and was examining a cargo manifest. ‘The Corporation of Bristol and the Merchant Venturers have together brought this city to the highest prosperity. We all know that.’

      ‘It’s joining them that’s the challenge, eh, Josiah?’

      Josiah Cole flushed. ‘Gentlemen,’ he said. ‘My future plans are my own concern, I think. Now, I heard that you were interested in my sugar, Mr Williams. Shall I send you a sample?’

      Frances was seated at the parlour table, the ledgers of the company spread before her. Sarah was teaching her the business, showing her the books of the ship Daisy due home in December.

      ‘This page shows the cost of fitting out a ship,’ Sarah explained patiently. ‘See, here is every item, and along the line,’ her finger traced the row of ink dots, ‘here is what it cost. At the foot of the page is the total cost.’

      ‘I see,’ said Frances wearily. Outside the window the Rose was being fitted with new ropes and newly mended sails. There was a continual bellow of orders and screams of quayside sellers. They had a pulley rigged on the mast which screeched every time it took the weight of a load, and then the crew started a chant to help them pull the ropes together. The sun burned in at the parlour window and the reflected light on the ceiling danced a dizzying ballet. The tide was coming in and the filth and sewage which had been draining downriver was now washing up and down the quayside wall. The wind blowing up the gorge brought the acrid stink of burning lime from the Clifton woods to mingle with the pervasive smell of Bristol: boiling fat for soap, smoke from the furnaces. The window was tightly shut as usual. The parlour was hot and stuffy, the sun beating in through the glass of the panes. Frances had a headache; she sat very still and straight and did not complain.

      ‘So the total cost of repairing and fitting out the ship was £907. 2S.’

      Sarah Cole nodded. ‘Correct. On the next page we show the trade goods supplied.’

      Frances passed her cool fingers over her eyelids. ‘What are all these names?’

      ‘These are our four partners. Merchants and tradesmen who joined with us for this voyage. Here you see that they supply the trade goods themselves. Here is a cutler – he supplied the knives and forks and tin dishes. We show the goods and the value of them. Here is a haberdasher. He supplied cloth and lace and some hats. The other things, some beads, Italian blue beads, and the guns, we bought direct. The other partners supplied the money to buy them.’

      Frances looked down the page. There were many things listed but the greatest quantity of money had been spent on muskets, Bonny muskets at nine shillings each, gunpowder and flints. ‘What a lot of guns,’ she said.

      ‘They are the most popular trade goods,’ Sarah Cole said. ‘And a great cost to us. They can only be bought from Birmingham and no Birmingham firearm maker will come in with us as a partner. They are quick enough to make a profit from us but they will not share the risk. Now, Frances, can you see how much it cost to send out the ship?’

      Frances looked wearily to the foot of the page. The shifting light in the room seemed to be beating on her eyes. ‘Yes, £5692. 16s. od,’ she said. ‘What a great deal of money!’

      ‘Now you see!’ Sarah exclaimed. ‘Now you begin to understand. This is why I don’t want a grand house. This is why I don’t keep a carriage. I daresay Lord Scott himself could not find such a sum, and find it three times every two years! Every time we send out a ship!’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Frances said unwillingly. ‘I have never learned about money before.’

      Sarah smiled in triumph. ‘Well, you are a merchant’s wife now,’ she said. ‘It is right that you should know where the money comes from. When you hire the carriage or want a new silk dress it all has to be paid for.’ She smoothed the pages lovingly with the flat of her hand. ‘It all comes from here.’

      She turned the page. ‘Now this is the record for the transactions in Africa,’ she went on. ‘I compose the books when the captain shows me his log on his return. See here: purchased over six months on the Africa coast – three hundred and twelve – at an average of fourteen pounds each. Wastage on voyage – sixty-two. Price in Jamaica, average fifty pounds each. First profit – £12500, minus the cost of buying – £8132.’ She waited for Frances to speak.

      ‘Very profitable,’ Frances said.

      ‘Apparently so,’ Sarah said sourly. ‘From this profit we buy sugar, tobacco and rum to the cost of £4830. We extend credit to the planters to the cost of £1750, and we pay off half of the crew at a cost of £130.’ She ran her finger down the columns, Frances followed it with her eyes. All she could see was the neat fingernail and the black-ink numbers spooling away.

      ‘Now you see,’ Sarah Cole went on. ‘When the ship comes into port she has to pay for a pilot up the Bristol channel, and then another pilot up the Avon. She has to pay a fee to every lighthouse, she has to pay a fee for the new bridge, she has to pay the rowing boats to tow her up the gorge, she has to pay a fee to the mayor and to the quay warden, and a docking fee.’

      ‘Gracious,’ Frances said weakly.

      ‘No wonder the Liverpool merchants steal our trade,’ Sarah Cole muttered to herself. ‘They sail straight into a deep-water dock with cheap quay rates. No wonder they build bigger and bigger ships.’ She turned her attention back to Frances. ‘So, can you see the profit which is made at the end of the voyage?’

      Frances looked wearily at the final page. ‘Here, £2513.’

      ‘Divided among the partners – five partners including ourselves,’ Sarah prompted.

      Frances looked at the final figure. ‘That’s £502 each.’

      Sarah Cole nodded at her, waiting for some response.

      ‘After all that work and worry?’

      ‘And we own the ship and keep the warehouse, and allow credit to the planters in Jamaica and all the other costs that the partners do not see,’ Sarah added.

      ‘It does not seem very much for us when you put it like that,’ Frances said.

      Sarah got up from the table and went over to the window. ‘It’s a good profit on a two-year investment for the partners,’ she said. ‘For a little man with little savings it is good business. But the scale of it is not big enough for my brother now. He can double his money every five years on these figures, but he wants to advance in six months, by tomorrow. I do not see how we are to do it. I show you these figures because you should know our business, but you can see for yourself that we are not making the profits we need.’

      ‘Why not?’

      The woman shrugged. ‘Rising prices all around us. It costs more and more to repair and equip a ship. The price of sugar is falling as more and more planters increase their land and grow a bigger crop each season. The American war made it dangerous even for civilian shipping and increased the cost of insurance. The French can import their own sugar from their own colonies, and now they are selling in England. I heard that a man is finding a way to make sugar from vegetables called beets. When they make sugar from carrots we are ruined indeed.’

      She stepped towards the table and shut the ledger gently, passing her hand over the ship’s СКАЧАТЬ