We looked at the numbers from a report prepared for King George I, pertaining to the trade with the plantations for the three years 1714 to 1717. All of the figures given were annual figures, that is, the total numbers had been divided by three. The annual amount of tobacco shipped was about 25 million pounds. It would take many ships to ship that much tobacco.
The report for George I itemized the number of ships from England in these years by the destination of the ships. More ships left for Barbados (347) than for any other destination. But Virginia (without Maryland) was the destination for 340 ships. Maryland was the destination for 108 ships. (These are three year totals.)
The American plantations in the western hemisphere were not the only destinations for ships. In fact, this area was the target for only one-sixth of the tonnage leaving Great Britain. Another one-sixth was with Spain, Portugal, the Streights, Canaries, East India, Newfoundland, and Archangel. Another one-sixth left for Norway, Denmark, and the Baltic ports. Two-sixths of the tonnage was in trade with Germany, Holland, Flanders, and France. Only one-sixth was in trade with Ireland and British islands.
Not all of these trips required the same amount of time. Ships calling on Holland could make several trips per year, whereas ships to the Americas were pressed to make two trips a year. So the number of ships trading with the Americas was more than one-sixth of the total number.
From the total tonnage to the Americas, and the numbers of the ships, it is possible to derive the average tonnage of the ships. The average size of the ships to Maryland was 163 tons, and to Virginia was 138 tons. These are not very big ships. Generally, a ton is about 100 cubic feet. Thus, a ship of 150 tons is about 15,000 cubic feet, or a space about 25 feet, by 25 feet, by 25 feet. Equivalently, this would be about 12 feet of width, 12 feet of depth, and 100 feet of length. Or to put the figures in another perspective, a house of 2,000 square feet would contain about 16,000 cubic feet, or the equivalent of 160 tons of ship tonnage. Those ships were very, very small!
With a destination of Virginia for the three years, 340 ships were cleared from Great Britain. Thus, a ship left on the average every three days for Virginia. Between Virginia and England, a ship could not actually average two round trips per year, but let's say the average time was six months. Thus, it would take about sixty ships to transport the goods to and from Virginia.
Returning to the 25,000,000 pounds of tobacco shipped annually, this would be 12,500 tons. At 125 tons per ship, this would take 100 shiploads. This jibes well with the size of the ships; however, these rough estimates mix up Virginia and Maryland, but they still show the estimates are in "the right ballpark". Nearly all of the ships going to Virginia would have carried tobacco back to England. Outbound to Virginia they would have carried finished goods and people.
(20 Jun 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.