be ten pounds sterling to the man. This, however, also covered the expense of bedding and other unusual articles.[1]
Bullock a quarter of a century later entered minutely into the various items of cost involved in the transportation of a servant to the Colony. In consequence of the fact that the vessels set sail for Virginia at long intervals, it was necessary, according to this writer, to consider the expense of maintaining such a person while he was waiting to embark. In London, this amounted to three pounds sterling for every six weeks of his detention. The charge for transportation alone was five pounds and ten shillings, to which ten shillings and six pence were to be added to cover the fee of the ship surgeon, the expenditure on account of the servant being thus brought to eight pounds twelve shillings and six pence, and this was exclusive of the cost of the apparel and similar necessaries which had to be provided for him under the terms of his indenture, consisting of one cloth and one canvas suit, one waistcoat, one pair of woollen drawers, three shirts, two pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes, one monmouth cap, three handkerchiefs, four ells of strong canvas, one bed and bolster, two blankets and a rug. The outlay entailed by the purchase of these articles was calculated at three pounds and eight shillings. Bullock asserted that if it had been customary for ships to sail at short intervals from the mother country to Virginia, the expense of importing a servant would not have exceeded four pounds and ten shillings, omitting the charge for clothing.[2] In many cases in which persons leaving
- ↑ British State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 66; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1640, p. 98, Va. State Library. An English father, writing in 1660 to his son, who resided in York County, states that every servant whom he sent to Virginia caused him an expense of ten pounds sterling. Records of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 179, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Bullock’s Virginia, pp. 11, 12, 36.
