This is another of my ‘woolly’ posts, I’m afraid. Many years ago, long before I became interested in maritime history, I recall casually reading something about the way accounts were settled when ships incurred expenses in foreign ports but I recall little of the details. If a ship had to put into, say, Valparaiso, to buy rope, there was a system in place to reimburse the merchant that was efficient and traceable and all transactions were recorded by the Admiralty.
Can anyone explain or expand on this procedure? Did captains/pursers have an ‘emergency fund’ to dip into in cases of crisis, or were there agents who would meet the costs of unexpected crises and then wait to be re-imbursed? Or are my recollections totally incorrect?
_________________ Anna
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