Autograph Letter Signed ('John Trotter') to Hay, with signed 'List of Payments made to Sir William Forbes of Hunter & Co. by the undermentioned partners of the East Lothian & Merse Whalefishing Company Since the 6th of March 1805'.

4to bifolium. Very good on aged paper. The letter covers the whole of the recto of the second leaf, the reverse of which carries the address and docketing: '6th. April 1805 | John Trotter - with List of payments to Sir Wm. Forbes & Co. on acct. of the whale fishing Cy.' Trotter quotes at length from a 'paragraph' in a letter he has received from William Forbes & Co, explaining why a credit 'does not appear in the annexed statement, as the receipt has not been delivered up to us'. 'Indeed,' Trotter writes, 'the receipt will never be delivered to them, as Mr Duffin will hold the same as a Voucher of payment'. He explains the course of action he will take, before briefly mentioning 'Mr Warring's payment', and reporting the intentions of 'Mr Laurie'. The list contains the names and payments (totalling £323 13s 8d) of ten individuals including 'Sir Geo. Warrender Bart.' and 'Lady Dalrymple of No Berwick'. Beneath the list Trotter writes 'Mr Hay will please mark the above paid in his list of deficients | John Trotter'. Details of two other 'deficients' have been added, presumably by Hay, bringing the total up to £391 13s 8d. In his 'Scotland in Modern Times: An Outline of Economic and Social Development' (1964), W. H. Marwick describes the 'East Lothian and Merse Whale Fishery [sic] Company' as a 'noted' one, 'with five vessels and 199 shares, held mainly by local landowners, which had fully half a century's career before dissolving into debt (1804)'.