Retiring allowance to commanders and officers.
When the Company's commercial operations were
brought to a close the commanders and officers of their
"maritime service"[1] memorialised the Court for
compensation for loss of employment, and requested
to be placed on a footing somewhat equivalent to
what the officers and servants on their own ships
would have been entitled to claim by law or usage,
had they been discharged or otherwise deprived of
employment. This memorial, which will be found
in the Appendix, contains a good deal of information
connected with the service worthy of perusal. Though
drawn up in the form of a petition, it reads more like
a demand, the memorialists resting their claims upon
certain words in their agreements for servitude, and
upon one of the sections of an Act of Parliament.[2]
Compensations and increased pensions granted. Although opposed to the demand, and furnishing very valid reasons for their opposition, the Directors,[3] nevertheless, after reference to a meeting of share-*
- [Footnote: Company in 1832-1833 ranged from 12l. 15s. to 14l. per ton to and
from China, and only 7l. 12s. to 9l. 15s. to and from Bombay (Hardy, pp. 20-22); and although these rates were double what can now be obtained, they were unremunerative, considering the cost of construction of these vessels, their small capacity in proportion to their registered tonnage, and their large current expenses.]
- ↑ Although the Company frequently engaged vessels for a single voyage, those employed in the regular service were invariably chartered for six consecutive voyages, the custom being for tenders to be issued, specifying the number of vessels required, their tonnage and equipment, and inviting their owners to make offers at so much per ton for six voyages certain (sufficient time being allowed for construction and outfit), so that nearly all the ships in the regular service of the Company were specially built for the purpose, shipowners, as a rule, naturally hesitating to invest a large capital on a particular description of vessel, unless her employment was secured by contract for a length of time sufficient to justify the expenditure.
- ↑ Memorial of Captain Probyn, etc., July 1834, Appendix No. 15, p. 548.
- ↑ Minutes of Court of Directors, 5th August, 1834. Hardy, p. 29.
