214 HANDEL
exported to Amsterdam, +62.1 per cent. These calculations, especially those for
export, are open to severe doubts, notably as a result of variable currency val-
ues and of corresponding losses made on various imported commodities. But if
the trade was basically unprofitable one cannot imagine why so many ships
sailed hopefully to Danzig year after year.^16
Less can be said for individual voyages, where the prospects were as fickle as
the winds that blow. Occasionally, however, records survive to illustrate the
minutiae of the sailing of a single ship. Such is the case with a venture of Tewes
Gercken, a Dutchman, who in 1621 sent a 40-last ship from Danzig to Aberdeen.
To spread the risk, he shared the outlay among five other shipowners — Hans
Foss, Frantz Flucker, Wilhelm Brun, Hans Grefe, and Hans Schultze. Each held
a one-eighth share, except for Schultze and Gercken himself, who both took two
shares each. From Danzig, he took a cargo, presumably of grain, which was sold
for 533 zl. 10 groszy. From Aberdeen, he carried 27 lasts and 4 barrels of coal,
bought for 230 zl. and sold for 364 zl. 10 groszy in Danzig. His costs included
sums for the wages of four sailors and a cook, for food and lodging, for port and
passport dues, for compensation to a vessel which was struck by mistake in the
Danish Sound, and for repairs. (See Table below.) At the end of the voyage, each
shareholder received 61 zl. 20 groszy, per share. Given an original outlay which
must have been in the order of 432 zl. (or 54 zl. per share) the return represented
a return of some 14 per cent over about a month. In other words, in spite of the
collision in the Sound, it was a profitable trip.^17
The return of Gercken to Danzig, and of hundreds of captains like him,
formed the last link in the chain of the Vistula Trade. The foreign demand for
grain, which attracted the ships in the first place, had been supplied. The Polish
grain had been transported down the Vistula by the producer, bought by the
Danzig merchant, sold to the Dutch exporter, and delivered to a foreign port.
Now the ships had returned with a cargo of goods for import, and lay waiting
with empty holds for the next shipment of grain. The cycle was complete.
INCOME: zl. gr. %
Cargo sold in Scotland 533 10
Cargo sold in Danzig 364 —
Remaining from previous voyage 46
Total 943 10
EXPENSES:
Food (including one night's lodging for
the captain in a Scottish inn) 63 10 16
Ship's supplies and repairs 7 13 1
Port and Sound dues 55 — 12
Crew's wages 43 20 10
Purchase of coal in Aberdeen 230 — 53
Compensation to damaged ship 35 8
Total 433 43 (100)