A news item published in September 1768 mentioned that the Portuguese King allowed three merchants from Lisbon to send a ship towards Macao. It was aimed to send a ship in January 1769 if they succeeded to found a company with a capital of 500.000 Dutch guilders or 400.000 crusados. Their intention was to become the directors or bookkeepers with just 90.000 crusados; comparable with the value of the ship they owned. And it was their intention to wait with the account for the costs until 6 months after the return of the ship. The highness of the parts wasn't determined so in fact everyone could participate in the company for just the amount of money he or she could spare.
Source
Maandelyksche Nederlandsche Mercurius, part 25, July-December 1768. Bernardus Mourik, Amsterdam, 1768.
