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‘Segmented Trade’. Merchants, Mercantile Practices and Mercantilism 583

amounted to 500,000 florins subdivided into one thousand 500 florin
shares. The four men were to have been the firm’s directors and hold
at least 20 shares each. The shareholders’ meeting was scheduled to
take place in Trieste and 10 shares entitled shareholders to vote with
a maximum of 20 votes per participant and the potential for
shareholders to join forces to gain the right to take part in the meeting.
Non Trieste resident shareholders could appoint a representative but
the person chosen could not be directly or indirectly involved in trade
with the Americas. The duration of the company was fixed at 15 years
which could be renewed by the assembly and shares could be sold or
exchanged directly during this time. To safeguard shareholders, the
directors could not trade independently with the Americas and, if they
resigned from the firm, they could not take part in such trade for three
years. Directors were assigned 2% of the total value of all voyages
undertaken, a sum which was to have been spilt up into equal parts.
Every year, starting from the second as a result of the length of the
journey, a balance sheet was to be completed and profits, minus
expenses, were to be divided up equally between shareholders.
Simpson was entrusted with material management of trade and, to this
37
purpose, he to leave shortly for the American markets .
In the wake of changes following on from renewed peace, all three
38
companies failed from 1785 to 1787 . In these years, however, the
involvement of the Trieste mercantile classes in the Atlantic did not
diminish thanks to the new technical tools available and changes in
the economy. In fact they were involved in financial markets and, via
these, in international trade thanks to the role played by trading and
seafaring companies’ shareholders and financiers in global circuits and
also thanks to their growing role in maritime insurance . The gazettes
39
which circulated in the city supplied information relating to money and
share values, trends in the world’s main stock exchanges, investment
options, goods’ prices, harvest and production trends, weather and
geopolitical events, shipwrecks and the arrival of the most important
ships at the various geographical areas. Information was not simply a

37 Sav, Savi, I s., 759, 3 and 11 August 1785; Inquisitori, 181, 23 August 1785, Gaz-
zetta di Trieste, «Prospetto di una nuova compagnia di commercio per l’America setten-
trionale». Sav, Savi, I, 759, 3 August 1785 e 26 February 1786. ASV, Inquisitori, 518, 7
May 1786.
38 Sav, Savi, I s., 759, I, 4 November 1786 and 28 July 1787.
39 For example, Trieste shareholders invested in the Imperial East Indian Company
shipping between China, India and North America (R.J. King, Heinrich Zimmermann and
the Proposed Voyage of the Imperial and Royall Ship Cobenzell to the north West Coast in
1782-83, «The norther mariner/le marin du nord» XXI (2011), pp. 248-262).

n.44 Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XV - Dicembre 2018
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)