Who on ship was responsible for purchases during the Age of Sail?
score:5
The supercargo was an individual found on many trade ships during the age-of-sail period whose responsibility it was to represent the interests of the corporation or financiers involved in the trade goods being sold or acquired. Wikipedia says
A supercargo (from Spanish sobrecargo) is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship.1 The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchandise in ports to which the vessel is sailing,1 and buying and receiving goods to be carried on the return voyage.
Another definition can be found here, in a list exploring roles found on ships:
The merchants’ agent on board. He could also be the freight agent, and was responsible to take decisions about what to load and what to pay for it.
If you search the term on our site, you will find several mentions discussing early trade (Russian-America Company, Hawai'i, California) and one specifically concerning trade with (China). These will give you an idea of some of the varying instances where supercargoes have been mentioned historically.
The first time I encountered the term was while reading Dana's Two years before the Mast', which I recommend if you want to get a feel for 19th century sailing ships, trading, and some info on early California History. Dana mentions the supercargo as a peer of the Captain, which was lacking on his ship:
The captain, in the first place, is lord paramount. He stands no watch, comes and goes when he pleases, and is accountable to no one, and must be obeyed in everything, without a question, even from his chief officer. He has the power to turn his officers off duty, and even to break them and make them do duty as sailors in the forecastle. When there are no passengers and no supercargo, as in our vessel, he has no companion but his own dignity, and no pleasures, unless he differs from most of his kind, but the consciousness of possessing supreme power, and, occasionally, the exercise of it.
Since your example was early trade with China, there is a source found here, which is by Hosea Ballou Morse who was a customs official and historian. An excerpt from his article published in the English Historical Review, mentions the importance of the supercargo and Chinese trade:
TWO hundred years ago the supercargo was an important person on a ship trading to the Indies. The ship went exploring to new countries; there were no banks of exchange, and her owners had no correspondents in foreign ports; they loaded on the ship what was required, in goods or in money, to buy a cargo of the products of the foreign country; and, as they could not go in person, they must have a representative on board who was qualified to sell his 'stock', to exchange his money for the currency of the country, and to buy his 'investment' of such quality and at such prices that the commodities could be sold at a profit on the ship's return to its home port. Besides this mercantile qualification, he must be capable of dealing with persons of rank and dignity. In one port the principal trader might be the king of the country (such a trader was the king of Tongking1); in another he might be the admiral commanding the naval defences, as at Mindanao in 1686,7 or the general commanding the garrison, as at Amoy in 1684;7 in another the merchants with whom he must trade were only the commercial representatives of the highest officials, as at Canton in 1699,7 or one merchant might have the imperial commission to monopolize the trade with foreign ships, as at Chusan, Amoy, and Canton in 1702–4.7 The supercargo needed diplomatic ability to deal with all such extraordinary situations; not simply the courage to resist extortionate demands, but the skill to conduct a trade notwithstanding that such demands were made.
Note that not all ships had a supercargo, but if you were looking for an induvial whose only role was control of the trade on a sailing ship in the 'age-of-sail', this would be a relevant term to research.
Upvote:-1
Depends on the time and place.
- The ship might transport good for a merchant house, represented by factors abroad. The Hanseatic League called the permanent establishment of these factors Kontor.
- There might be several merchants abroad, effecticvely chartering part of the ship and doing their own speculative trade.
- There might be only one. This person might or might not be the same as the captain.
- Officers and crew might be paid, in whole or in part, by the right to use part of the cargo hold for their own benefit.
More post
- 📝 In WW2, what was the barrel-change rate of the Bofors 40-mm?
- 📝 During the Korean War, what B-29 crew roles did the abbreviations IVO, CFC, and VC mean?
- 📝 Did German citizens need a visa to enter Switzerland in 1945?
- 📝 What are these 2 compartments next to these war chariots?
- 📝 Were kamikaze pilots an effective strategy for Japan?
- 📝 Why did the Dutch West India Company allow Quakers in the New Netherlands?
- 📝 Regional dominance of Sitka library
- 📝 Have there been other examples of reunification/annexation, such as in the Crimea, that succeeded without using deadly force?
- 📝 At 300 AD, how many christians were there?
- 📝 Keynesian economics during his era
- 📝 What was traded on the Chicago Board of Trade in the mid 1800s?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 To what extent did the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia influence the process of relocating the capital to Washington DC in 1800?
- 📝 Why did Ford pardon Nixon?
- 📝 When was the last cavalry charge?
- 📝 How did the upper class stay wealthy in the past?
- 📝 Were women banned from entering the castle of Trakai?
- 📝 Why so many early temples on Malta?
- 📝 Have there been gay riots in the US?
- 📝 What was the range of medieval bombards?
- 📝 Who were the police of Vichy France?
- 📝 Does anyone know anything about this poem
- 📝 Did the Germans fuel the general's purge?
- 📝 How did communist authorities decide who is "German" and who is "Polish" when expelling Germans from recovered territories?
- 📝 How did Carthage Lose the First Punic War to Rome?
- 📝 Did women suffer from alcoholism as much as men in 19th century America?
- 📝 Paradigm change in power: from military to economic in Europe
- 📝 Why did the Allies let Hitler break the Treaty of Versailles?
- 📝 Which 1848 German revolutionaries became key players in the US Republican party?
- 📝 Were the Swedish holdings in northern Germany accepting or resentful of their overlord after the Peace of Westphalia?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who on ship was responsible for purchases during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 Who was responsible for the partition of India?
- 📝 Who was responsible for the murder of Elizabeth Short, AKA the Black Dahlia? Was it a doctor who was formerly married to a police captain's daughter?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 Was there a priest on the Titanic who stayed on the ship giving confession to as many as he could?
- 📝 What was the value of the spice trade during the age of exploration?
- 📝 Was Islam really responsible for the Italian Renaissance?
- 📝 Was the act of servicemen exchanging their weapons for enemy weapons common during WWII?
- 📝 Who was the first military force to use teppo (guns) in mass battles during the Sengoku-jidai?
- 📝 Communication lag during the Age of Sail: what if enemy claimed that peace agreement was signed?
- 📝 What was the basis for valuating large territorial purchases by USA?
- 📝 Was the German Empire responsible for the advancement of German technology?
- 📝 Who would qualify as British subject during the Victorian age of the Empire?
- 📝 What was the argument for the Japanese pursuing the Northern Expansion Doctrine during WWII?
- 📝 How was the safety of allied leaders ensured in transportation for conferences during WW2?
- 📝 If a merchant ship captain joined the Royal Navy during the age of sail, would they be put in command?
- 📝 Was the enclosure responsible for the supply of factory workers in 18th and 19th Century England?
- 📝 Was there Western tactical air support during the Battle for Berlin?
- 📝 What was the estimated malaria death toll for US Forces during World War II?
- 📝 Who was blamed for shell failures on the Western Front?
- 📝 During the defense of the home islands, what was Japan's plan for its forces off-island?
- 📝 What was the alcoholic beverage of choice for British soldiers during WW2?
- 📝 Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
- 📝 What did people used to exchange for goods during the 1920s German hyperinflation while the official currency was not trusted
- 📝 What was the expected retirement age for men in Spain in 1936?
- 📝 Was there a dry dock available to pirate ships during the golden age of piracy?
- 📝 Who is responsible for the oldest known calendar?
- 📝 Was a medical ship sunk during the evacuation from Dunkirk?
- 📝 Who was the model for Trutat's famous painting Nude Girl on a Panther Skin?