256 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



more than $45. Only one individual was able to secure more 

 than $75 from the captain. 



Whaling accounting, however, did not always distinguish 

 carefully between cash advances and other debit items. At 

 times the cash accounts and the slop-chest accounts were 

 merged, and the two sums would appear together in the final 

 settlement as "Slops and Cash." Upon other occasions the 

 amounts loaned and the interest charges were combined in a 

 single entry, without distinguishing between principal and in- 

 terest and without giving the rate of interest used in the cal- 

 culation. 



But whether or not the rate was given specifically, virtually 

 all cash advances were accompanied by charges known as in- 

 terest, exchange, or insurance. There was a singular lack of 

 uniformity in the use of these terms j but the first two seem to 

 have been employed interchangeably to denote ordinary in- 

 terest, while insurance referred to an additional and separable 

 charge, presumably made in order to cover the heavy element 

 of risk involved in such transactions. In actual practice, how- 

 ever, interest and insurance were frequently merged. 



Some concrete instances will illustrate both the varying 

 terminology and the average or customary rates. During the 

 years 1860-1861 the master of the ship Canton charged 20% 

 exchange on cash advances. The ship William C. Nye, on her 

 third whaling voyage, 1 858-1 861, also charged "Exchange on 

 Cash," but at the rate of 25%. During the years 1 843-1 845 

 the bark Canton exacted a similar percentage, but termed it 

 "Interest on Cash." Still earlier, during the first voyage of 

 the bark Minerva, 1 836-1 839, both interest and insurance 

 were combined under a single item of 25%. From 1859 ^^ 

 1862, however, the ship James Maury separated these two 

 charges by exacting 12% insurance in addition to 18% inter- 

 est."^ And finally, during an earlier cruise of this same vessel, 

 each of the three terms is used in the account of one George 

 Shaw. Here, under date of January 27, 1848, the following 

 entries occur: 



'This list might be multiplied indefinitely by other instances taken from the 

 original account-books in the New Bedford Public Library and elsewhere. 



