to go to the Island of St. Johns in North America in Spring Seventeen hundred and Seventy, and to take charge of a ffarm there, the property

of the said James Montgomery upon Lott No. thirty four, as a Grieve or Overseer for the Space of Seven years after his Arrival . Lawson was entitled by this contract to one-half of the profits of this farm during these seven years, after deducting servants’ wages and money advanced by Montgomery for the stocking of the farm. Lawson was also to hyre in Scotland such number of Servants as he judges to be neces- sary, to whom such wages shall be given as shall be thought reasonable, to commence from the time of their landing upon the Island of St. Johns, and whose ffreight and Expences of going there shall be advanced by the said James Montgomery. This last cost him £1200, including a shipload of supporting supplies for the farm. The indentured servants were bound to Serve the said James Montgomery four years after their Landing upon the Island, And after their Service is expired, they are to have from the said James Montgomery from two to ffive hundred Acres of Uncleared Land without rent the first four years, And after that paying three pence the Acre yearly for Ten years, Sixpence the Acre yearly for the next ten years and One Shilling the Acre yearly ever after, all Sterling money, And to have a Lease of said Land for One thousand years. They were also to be given a Cow or two in a present or Compliment to begin the Stocking of their ffarms, And also such further Sum of money to enable them to settle as the said David Lawson shall think proper. This all sounds reasonable and fair; the settlers had their passage paid, would receive wages for their four years’ indenture, and after that would be able to set up as tenant farmers. Even though Sir James self-consciously referred to his colonists as “White Negroes”, in a letter to his close friend John MacKenzie on 14 April, 1770, they were certainly not slaves, and Montgomery’s arrangements for them did not warrant the statement later made to the Rev. James MacGregor that they were decayed out by one of the great proprietors to settle his land. They were to pay a shilling rent per acre, and they thought it cheap till they came out and saw it; but then they found it dear enough David Lawson had no difficulty in finding labourers in Perthshire, in fact he recruited more than Montgomery had anticipated; about 50 persons sailed from Greenock on April 8, 1770 on board the Falmouth, owned by Messrs. Buchanan & Morrison & C0,, Captain John MacWhae. We would like to know more about the Falmouth: her tonnage, and whether she was a schooner, brigantine or barquentine. The Historian at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. tells us that there was a Falmouth, built in 1752 for the East India Company, but such large vessels were rarely used in other trades, and it is therefore unlikely but not wholly impossible that this ship, after her East India service was over, turned

12