Pilot’s Almanac’s View on Freight
Pilot’s Almanac address the issue of carry freight by assuming the vessel will receive a share of a cargo’s sold value when arriving at the
destination port. Since most cargoes could takes days and more likely weeks to sell, and the final value being highly speculative, this could be a bust
for some vessels.
The rules also assume that a ship will be buying and selling cargo as it proceeds along its journey. For local and short voyages this may be a viable
way to conduct shipping since the funds needed by the vessel are limited and the markets fairly predictable since they visit them up to six times a year
for a local voyage and up to two and a half times a year for a short voyage. When looking at longer voyages this form of shipping is highly unlikely
since the size of a ship’s cargo is larger and thus the funds needed to support trading operations also very high.
Freight and Freight Rates
Whereas the forms of shipping mentioned above may be practical for shorter voyages, it is not for the longer voyages. The risks of sea travel and
uncertain markets make the above types of shipping a gamble. Instead, the shippers who move goods over these longer distances may charge fixed freight
rates for specific voyages; in this way they are guaranteed a profit.
A ship’s master may still conduct some business on his own during these trips, but it was no longer his primary means of earning money. Now
merchants contracted with the ship’s master, either singularly or as a company, to have their goods carried to a specific port. In order to have a
say in the doings of the voyage a merchant would have to load a specific amount of merchandise on the ship, usually 10-20 tuns of goods, possess the
monetary value of a similar lot, or a combination of the two. The rate charged was similar to the fraction system mentioned in Pilot’s Almanac but
is based on the declared value of the goods loaded. In this way the merchant could unload his goods at the destination port and the ship did not have to
wait till it was sold to receive payment; instead the ship received its payment prior to departure.
A merchant or group of merchants that could provide the minimum load would not be charged freight for their personal belongings or person. However, if a
merchant had less than the minimum he would have to pay a rate on the value of his personal belongings and his own passage.
In addition to merchants, their personal belongings, servants, and trade goods a ship’s master could also allow passengers to sign on to a voyage
for the cost of their passage and freight for their personal belongings.
Local Hauls and Some Short Hauls
First, smaller vessels conducting mostly local and some short hauls will normally be owned by a single individual or a couple of partners will normally
be conducting business on their own behalf or carrying goods for other merchants for a share in the selling price. These men commonly sail smaller
vessels of minimal tonnage and therefore will find it easier to acquire a cargo in a short period of time. In addition, with their limited personal
funds they usually will find it difficult to fill their hold and will readily accept any merchant having a small cargo on to their vessel in exchange
for a percentage of their cargo’s selling price. Since a small cargo will sell faster than a larger one they may not have to wait too long for
payment and thus avoid waiting around before sailing on their return voyage with another cargo of their own.
Longer Hauls (Short, Medium, and Long)
Although an intrepid few still conduct trade by buying and selling their own cargoes, the risks involved in the longer voyages are just to prevalent to
try and go it alone. Therefore, most ships conducting long voyages conduct their business in one of the following manners.
First is the carriage of a merchant’s goods for a fraction of the goods value upon sale. As mentioned above, this could mean waiting weeks or even
months depending on the market and the demand for the goods being carried before the ship received its payment. Another draw back is that merchants may
not be able to sell at the market they had sailed too and would want to go on to another port and try to sell the goods there. This would entail further
costs for the ship in fees, rations, vessel repairs, etc and all on the promise of a profitable sale at the next port. Although these kinds of carrying
operations could work on the short and even medium hauls they could be ruinous on long hauls if the ship’s master did not have sufficient funds to
cover wages and other necessities. Even on a medium voyage such an arrangement could prove disastrous if the goods being carried were not in demand at
any of the ports of call. Some masters on these longer voyages are only allowing merchants carrying goods they know will sell well at the port of
destination to sign onto their vessel. It is for these reasons that such arrangements are fast becoming rare occurrences on longer voyages.
Second, most ship’s masters have begun assessing freight charges on goods carried by their ships. The freight charge is based on the tun as a
measure of volume or weight and the primary destination port. The freight charges were commonly due at the port of origin and could be reduced if the
merchant promised to send his return cargo back on the same vessel, the return charge not being reduced. It is also common for a number of merchants to
contract a vessel for an entire return trip with the stipulation that other merchants signing onto the trip could not be given a better deal on their
charges than the original contractors. The master in these cases agreed to only take on additional merchants and his own goods if there was sufficient
tonnage remaining for such transactions. This is fast becoming the dominant means of conducting shipping throughout northwestern Lýthia and has been the
dominant means of shipping goods in the Venarian Sea for a number of decades.
Finally, it is still quite common within the waters surrounding Hârn, the Sea of Ivae and the Gulf of Shorkyne to find all of these forms of
shipping taking place on the same vessel. A vessel sailing out of Cherafir for Palithane may have the ship’s master holding 20% of the tonnage on
his own account, a team of three merchants traveling with their goods, equal to 50% of the tonnage, for specified freight charge, and the remaining 30%
of tonnage belonging to four other merchants who have agreed to pay a specified percentage of their goods value upon sale. In this way the ship’s
master insures he has cash on had for fees, wages, etc from the freight charges gathered at Cherafir; the promise of a profit from his own goods free
and clear for the purchase of a return cargo; and the hope for a tidy return from the other merchants that he could put aside for unforeseen costs or
buy additional cargo for the return voyage.
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