Facts
Mr T Cutter agreed he would sail with Powell from Kingston, Jamaica to Liverpool, England. The contractual note read as follows.
“Ten days after the ship Governor Parry, myself master, arrives at Liverpool, I promise to pay to Mr. T. Cutter the sum of thirty guineas, provided he proceeds, continues and does his duty as second mate in the said ship from hence to the port of Liverpool. Kingston, July 31st, 1793.”
Cutter died after seven weeks. It was a ten week voyage. The ship left on August 2, Cutter died on September 20 and the ship arrived on October 9. The ship captain refused to pay any wages at all. Mrs Cutter sued to recover the wages for the part of the journey that the husband had survived.
It was apparent that the usual wages of a second mate of a ship on such a voyage was four pounds per month: but when seamen are shipped by the run from Jamaica to England, a gross sum was usually given. The usual length of a voyage from Jamaica to Liverpool was about eight weeks.
Read more about this topic: Cutter V Powell
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