ABSTRACT
In 1857 Alfred Booth, then twenty-three years of age, completed his apprenticeship with Lamport and Holt; and to gain experience, sailed almost immediately to take up a temporary post in the New York office of Rathbone and Company, one of the greatest of Liverpool merchant houses, with interests in Shanghai, Canton and London. Alfred Booth's arrival in New York coincided with the financial troubles of 1857, and under the guidance of these two shrewd men he learned much that was later to prove of great value. In the early months of 1865 Charles Booth, with the help of the two Holt brothers, worked out the specifications of the proposed ships and set about raising the necessary additional capital. Alfred Booth and Company contracted to advance five-sixths of the cost of the invoice value, by the acceptance of a three or four months bill of exchange, and to charge a commission of 5% in addition to the costs involved in transport.
