ed him 'L4 smart
money,' or 'L1 for a periwig,' or 'L10 a year pension for life.' No
matter to what desperate straits the Company was reduced, it never
forgot a captain who had saved a cargo from raid, or the hero of a
fight, or a wood-runner who had carried trade inland. For those who died
in harness, 'funeral by torch-light and linkmen [torchbearers] to St
Paul's, Company and crew marching in procession, cost not to exceed
L20'; and though the cost might run up higher, it was duly paid, as in
one instance on record when the good gentlemen at the funeral had '2
pullets and a dozen bottles of sack' over it at the Three Tuns.

[Illustration: JOHN CHURCHILL, FIRST DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH From the
painting in the National Portrait Gallery]

Perhaps the gay gentlemen of the Governing Committee made merry too long
at times, for it appears to have been necessary to impose a fine on all
committee men who did not attend 'yt one hour after ye deputy-governor
turns up ye hour glass,' the fines to go to the Poor Box as 'token of
gratitude for God's so great a blessing to ye Comp'y.'

In February the Governing Committee was always in a great bustle
chartering or buying frigates for the year's voyages. Then the goods for
trade, to be exchanged with the Indians for furs, were chosen and
stored. In the list for 1672 are found '200 fowling pieces and 400
powder horns and 500 hatchets.' Gewgaws, beads, ribbons, and blankets
innumerable were taken on the voyages, and always more or less liquor;
but the latter, it should be remarked, was not traded to the Indians
except in times of keen competition, when the Company had to fight
rivals who used it in trade. Secret orders were given to the captains
before sailing. These orders contained the harbour signals. Ships not
displaying these signals were to be fired on by the forts of Hudson Bay
or lured to wreck by false lights. The sailing orders were always signed
'a God speede, a good wind, a faire saile, y'r loving friends'; and the
gentlemen of the Committee usually went down to the docks at Gravesend
to search lockers for illicit trade, to shake hands and toss a sovereign
and quaff drinks. From the point where a returning ship was 'bespoken'
the chief trader would take horse and ride post-haste to London with the
bills and journals of the voyage. These would be used to check
unlading. Next, the sorting of the furs, the payment of the seamen's
wages--about L20 per year to each man; then the pu