Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. [Illustration] Debts Hopeful and Desperate _Financing the Plymouth Colony_ by Ruth A. McIntyre [Illustration] PLIMOTH PLANTATION © Plimoth Plantation, Inc., 1963 The publication of this study was made possible through a grant to Plimoth Plantation by the partners of Hornblower and Weeks in memory of their senior partner RALPH HORNBLOWER who died at Plymouth September 18 1960 _“For had not you and we joined and continued together, New England might yet have been scarce known, I am persuaded; not so replenished and inhabited with honest English people as now it is. The Lord increase and bless them....”_ An extract from a letter written in 1633 by James Sherley, London merchant, to Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. Contents Acknowledgments 7 Foreword 9 Part I 11 The Pilgrims decide to emigrate to America § They obtain a patent and seek financial backing § Some London merchants offer to invest in the colony § 1620--Pilgrims and merchants form a joint stock company § Despite difficulties and controversy, the colonists set sail § Contrary to their patent, the Pilgrims settle at Plymouth § New Plymouth struggles with hardship and debt § Quarrels develop among the London merchants § The joint stock company breaks up § The Pilgrims agree to purchase the merchants’ interest in the company § The London investors were linked by common associations Part II 47 The Colony looks to the fur trade to pay its debts § Three London merchants agree to continue as Plymouth’s partners § The Pilgrims encounter difficulties in the fur trade § Plymouth obtains a new patent to protect its trading rights § Plymouth’s business agent is dismissed for a “conflict of interest” § The colony and its London partners dispute over their accounts § The London partners quarrel among themselves § Through arbiters, Plymouth and London reach a financial settlement § 1645--Plymouth’s debts, “hopeful and desperate,” at last are discharged Notes 69 Bibliography 79 Index of Personal Names 85 Acknowledgments