Author’s Note
The practice of indenturing servants remained consistent during the 17th and into the 18th centuries, with many transported under government auspices and others shipped by independent entrepreneurs. There were two categories of people involved, those sailing voluntarily and others going against their will. Volunteers were chiefly impoverished youths who hoped for a better life after the completion of a temporary contract. A supply which, as Raphael and the Bartholomews learn, dried up after reneging on such contracts became widespread.
Involuntary servants included convicts – often avoiding death sentences – individuals judged undesirable, such as prostitutes and vagrants, and those seen as dangerous such as religious, political, or military rebels. Many Royalist prisoners
