outfit, her future repairs, in addition to the wages and victualling
of the crew, and all other expenses, were paid out of the produce of
the seizures which these cruisers effected. After this, if anything
remained beyond these deductions, the residue was to be divided
between the Crown and the contractor. Very often, of course, when a
fine haul was made of a £1000 worth of cargo, there was quite a nice
little sum for both parties to the contract, and a few other, smaller,
seizures during the year would make the business quite a profitable
undertaking. But when the amount of seizures was not sufficient to
defray the expenses the deficiency was supplied by the contractor and
Crown in equal proportions. That, then, was one of these two
subdivisions of contracted cruisers.

But in the second of these the contractor provided the vessel, for
which he was paid the sum of 4s. 6d. a ton per lunar month. It may
seem at first that this was poor remuneration, especially when one
recollects that to-day, when the Government hires liners from the
great steamship companies, the rate of payment is £1 per ton per
month. In the case of even a 10,000-ton liner there is thus a very
good payment for about thirty days. But in the case of a cutter of 100
tons or less, in the eighteenth century, 4s. 6d. per ton may seem very
small in comparison. However, we must bear in mind that although for
this money the contractor was to find the outfit of the vessel, and be
responsible for all repairs needed, yet the aforesaid contractor might
make a good deal more in a lucky year. It was done on the following
basis. From the produce of the seizures made by this subdivision of
cruisers all remaining charges additional to those mentioned above
were paid, but the surplus was divided between the Crown and
contractor. Thus the latter stood to gain a large sum if only a
moderate number of seizures had been made, and there was, by this