Robert Carter and his partner, Robert Tucker, write to Messrs.Francis Chamberlayne and [Francis] Sitwell, July 26, 1720, concerningthe details of their sale to date of a cargo of slaves on the slavetraders ship Mercury, reporting bills ofexchange for over£5036 and expenses of £985, and estimating the totalsales will be about £10,000. They complain that the cargo had "boys & Girlls so very much exceeding all manner of Proportion tothe men & Women" which hurt the sales. In conclusion, they reporthow they have split responsibility for the bills of exchange.
This accompanies Your Ship Mercury whose Dispatch
herehas been so Extraordinary beyond our
bin in Such a hurry to
are able to do nothingmore, but to remit to You the bills of
away in wages & otherCharges one hundred Pounds
Sterling and £885. in Cash& did our Endeavors to spend
as much of Your Cash as we could amongst the men but
a great many of Them have absolutely
anyThing but sterling although for their
we allowed them that are paid 10 perCt. &
to the rest, having Still in Our hands with what weExpect
to have upon the Sales of twenty Negroes we have
Dispose of between twelve &Thirteen hundred Pounds the
Chiefest part in Gold which we can by no means make
Sterling of atpresent, but Shall take all
to turn It into billsupon the best terms we can & Shall
be glad to receive Your Early Directions about It, The greatest
part of theSlaves still unpaid for, We have been forced to
Dispose of upon bond payable next June, otherwise
mustrun a great hazard in keeping them & at last
Sold them verylow, much under what we have now done
We shall take the firstopportunity to transmit You a
full& particular account ofthe whole Cargo, as soon
as we can
=culation we can at present make, the whole account
ofthe Slaves will be about Ten Thousand Pounds
It will be hardly needful for us again to men
-tionthe great Disadvantage we havebin under,
by the number of boys & Girls so very muchexceeding
all manner of Proportion to the men & Women
The Method we have taken for the bills of Exchange has been
Thus,we have made as Equal a division as wecould,
Carter Esquire undertakes to
& Mr.
for the bills he sends & to make good allProtests after
the Expiration of Thirty Days from the Deliveryof such Protests
to our respective Correspondents, to whom Youare dir=
=ected by our seperate Letters to address Your self, this we
hope will be to Your
time atpresent to be more particular in all things we
Shall Endeavourto Serve Your Interest being desirous
to approveourselves -- --