Alexander Gordon, shipmaster in Aberdeen, depones, that it has been a practice for to indent servants to be carried from Aberdeen to the plantations in America, from the year 1735, downward to the year 1753; and that during the foresaid period, he has been concerned himself in that trade of indenting, for his own account, and of his owners, servants from Aberdeen, and carrying them over to the American Plantations, in different ships, commanded by him on different voyages, viz. in the brig Diligence, to Philadelphia, and the Ruby, to Virginia [1] and Maryland.

Depones, that he has carried over boys, but not under fourteen years of age, and that no indentures can be taken for servants of fourteen years of age to continue longer than the servants attain the age of twenty-one years, by the custom of Maryland [2]; and that the price he generally received for such servants, in Maryland and at Philadelphia, amounted to about £10 sterling over head.

1. According to establishment historians, based on a decree by Charles II, signed in 1682, barring the traffic of English children, no indentures were shipped to Virginia, yet there is copious first hand evidence from all parties involved. The problem perhaps stems from the fact that after 1682, slave traders moved their operations predominantly into Scotland, Ireland and Wales, to prey upon ethnic groups regarded with suspicion and distaste by the English ruling class.

2. This single Maryland custom seems to form the basis for the modern myth that indentures were fixed by law, when in fact they were entirely arbitrary, and seem to have been related more to the asking price than to any notion of justice. The claim that indentures were not held in bondage beyond 21 is patently false, as numerous men are known to have been held longer.