Book 3, Chapter 10 Sales and Distribution Summary

At almost any time during the spring and fall months, indentured servant's labor was sold on board the newly arrived vessels in the ports south of New England. The servants and convicts were brought up on deck and interested customers came aboard and began the process of inspecting and selecting the servants that they wanted. Servants and convicts were treated similarly throughout this process.

Shipboard sales were carefully arranged and efforts were made to spruce up the servants and convicts. The location of the sale was important. Sellers tried to find sites that had advantages and would lead to higher sales. They tried to avoid places where other ships had recently arrived, where individual buyers might have difficulty getting to, and locations where the servants available wouldn't match what the buyers were looking for. Yet...