Name

The Manx Trade Ledger

Description

A summer-long project. You are George Moore, merchant of Douglas, and it’s 1750.

Keep a trade ledger for the summer — a real notebook, handwritten. Each week, research one real cargo that arrived at a Manx harbour. Enter it in your ledger: the ship’s name, where it came from, what it carried, what the duty was, and what the goods might sell for on the other side of the Irish Sea.

By the end of the summer, you’ll have a working picture of what the running trade actually looked like — not the caricature, but the reality.

The twist: also record what the same goods would cost today, and where they’d come from. Tea still comes from China. Brandy still comes from France. The routes haven’t changed as much as you’d think.

Key Stage / Type

Summer Project

Ages 10+

Research / Creative

Period

1703–1765

Topic

Smuggling & Trade