supracargo

plural supracargos · plural supracargoes

1. historicalnauticalAn officer on board a merchant ship who is in charge of the cargo and its sale; also, if there are two of such officers, the senior one, the other being the subcargo.

   [W]hat Buſineſs had I to leave a ſettled Fortune, a vvell ſtock'd Plantation, improving and encreaſing, to turn Supra-Cargo to Guinea, to fetch Negroes; […]

   1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 230

   5 more examples

   In a ſtorm, vvhen the Ship is in danger of periſhing, it is not lavvful for the Maſter at his ovvn diſcretion, vvithout advice firſt had vvith the Merchants or their Factors or Supracargoes, to caſt goods overboard for the Lightning the Veſſel, or to Cut dovvn the Maſt, or the like; but in caſe they conſent not, and the Maſter ſee cauſe for it, he may even againſt their conſents do the ſame, by the advice of the major part of his Mariners, vvho at the end of their Voyage are to make oath, that they did the ſame out of Neceſſity, and only for preſervation of Ship and Lading, and by advice of the Mariners: […]

   Maritime Lawyer

   1661, John Godolphin, “The Introduction, or, Preface to the Ensuing Treatise”, in Συνηγορος θαλασσιος [Synēgoros Thalassios]. A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction. […] [Maritime Lawyer], London: […] W[illiam] Godbid for Edmund Paxton […], and John Sherley […], →OCLC, signatures b2, recto – b2, verso

   [S]he vvill let a Man freely enter, ſo that he be no Piqueroon or Caper, but an honeſt Merchant, that vvill not only largely pay for the Freight, but make her Supracargo too.

   1675, R[ichard] H[ead], “The Wheedles, of an Handsome Hostess”, in Proteus Redivivus: Or The Art of Wheedling, or Insinuation. […], London: […] W. D[owning] […], →OCLC, pages 332–333

   [page 108] [A]n even Temper, and a ſmooth Tongue; for fine Excuſes, are neceſſary Talents for a chief Supracargo. […] [page 118] 'Tis not enough to knovv and buy the beſt Tea: For, vvithout good Management in its Package and Stovvage on board, all your Care may be rendred fruitleſs. The Company are ſo ſenſible of this, that they have been more particular in their Orders to their Supracargos about it, than hovv to chooſe vvhat is proper for them; […]

   1711, Charles Lockyer, chapter V, in An Account of the Trade in India: […], London: […] [F]or the author, and sold by Samuel Crouch, […], →OCLC, pages 108 and 118

   What office the said foreigner, Elliot, now holds from the said nation? In what respects would he come to Canton to superintend the foreign merchants? Why a chief supracargo does not come from the said nation, in place of a foreign eye being sent? Whether he has really received written credentials from the said nation's king? Whether he has any ulterior aim?

   1842 April, “Art[icle] I. Retrospection, or a Review of Public Occurrences in China during the Last Ten Years, from January 1st, 1832, to December 31st, 1841. (Continued from Page 132.)”, in [Elijah Coleman Bridgman], editor, The Chinese Repository, volume XI, number 4, Canton: Printed for the proprietors, →OCLC, page 197

   [T]here would be little or no opportunity for the seamen to savour the pleasures of dry land. This was a privilege allowed by the Chinese authorities only to a specific group of passengers, who were employed not by the ship’s private owners but by the distant Court of Directors of the East India Company. These ‘supracargos’ (literally ‘over the cargo’, though the term was soon corrupted to ‘supercargo’) were to oversee the procurement of the various goods which the ship was to carry back to London.

   2015, Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton, Matthew Mauger, “The Tea Trade with China”, in Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, pages 53–54

   Synonyms: supercargo

2. obsoletenauticalAn agent or representative of a company in charge of its overseas business.