Depredations from ships in London. custom as their perquisites the sweepings of the hold, consisting of such parts of the cargo as might from any cause have dropped out of their packages; and numerous charges were made against the inferior members of this class, whose duty it was to take care of the cargo under their charge, that they had been tempted to injure the packages with a view to increase their perquisites. Mr. Colquhoun's treatise furnishes an account of the vessels employed in the trade of London, and of the value of their cargoes, with an estimate of the number of packages plundered in each branch of trade during the year ending the 5th of January, 1798.[1]
From this statement it would appear that in that year there were eighteen hundred and forty-three foreign, and eleven thousand six hundred and one
[Footnote:
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| Vessels. |Tonnage, | Value of | Estimate | Estimate of
1 Specification of the +++including| Imports | of the | the Amount
Trades. |Foreign.|British.| their | and | Amount | of Plunder.
| | |repeated | Exports. |of Packages |
| | | Voyages.| |out and Home.|
-+++-+-+-+-
| | | | £ | | £
East Indies | 3 | 50 | 41,466| 10,502,000| 300,000 | 25,000
West Indies | 11 | 335 | 101,484| 11,013,000 400,000 | 232,000
British American Colonies | 0 | 68 | 13,986| 1,638,000| 65,000 | 10,000
Africa and Cape of Good Hope | 0 | 17 | 4,336| 531,000| 20,000 | 2,500
Whale Fisheries, North and South | 0 | 45 | 12,230| 314,000| 20,000 | 2,000
United States of America | 140 | 0 | 32,213| 5,416,000| 260,000 | 30,000
Mediterranean and Turkey | 29 | 43 | 14,757| 509,000| 70,000 | 7,000
Spain and the Canaries | 119 | 2 | 16,509| 947,000| 60,000 | 10,000
France and Austrian Netherlands | 121 | 1 | 10,677| 1,015,000| 20,000 | 10,000
Portugal and Madeira | 55 | 125 | 27,670| 853,000| 50,000 | 8,000
Holland | 329 | 0 | 19,166| 2,211,000| 60,000 | 10,000
Germany | 172 | 63 | 37,647| 10,672,000| 240,000 | 25,000
Prussia | 527 | 81 | 56,955| 432,000| 60,000 | 10,000
Poland | 31 | 38 | 17,210| 242,000| 70,000 | 5,000
Sweden | 100 | 9 | 14,252| 322,000| 50,000 | 3,000
Denmark | 194 | 8 | 48,469| 806,000| 60,000 | 5,000
Russia | 5 | 225 | 56,131| 2,017,000| 150,000 | 20,000
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Man| 4 | 42 | 5,344| 302,000| 15,000 | 2,000
Ireland | 3 | 273 | 32,824| 2,539,000| 160,000 | 5,000
Coasting Trade | 0 | 6,500 | 560,000| 6,600,000| 900,000 | 20,000
Coal Trade | 0 | 3,676 | 656,000| 1,710,000| | 20,000
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| 1,843 | 11,601 |1,776,326| 60,591,000| 3,030 000 | 461,500
Annual loss in tackle, apparel, and stores, of 13,444 vessels | 45,000
+-
Total depredations, estimated at | 506,500
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]
