On 13 May 1873 ten shareholders of the newly launched schooner, Thetis, sat down in the Ship Inn in Fowey to agree some important resolutions. The master, Captain Beale, was appointed at a salary of £6 per month plus gratuities and 10 per cent of the profits. Victualling was set at thirteen pence per day per man and ‘it was resolved that Mr Thomas Pearce be appointed Agent of the Vessel at five pounds per year’. Every resolution agreed had an important consequence in terms of the future earning for the shareholders, who were paid annually after all receipts and disbursements had been made and in relation to their shareholdings. Those present represented twenty-eight of the sixty-four shares and acted in the same way as a board of directors, with the agent as chief executive. Sitting with the nine other shareholders was Miss Mary Ann Henwood, a farmer's daughter aged twenty-five. It appears that Mary Ann, who held one share, had no problems in sitting on equal terms with male shareholders, none of whom appear to be relations. She was present again when the shareholders next sat down in January 1874, again at the Ship Inn. The agent was able to report that the vessel had done well in the fruit trade and in the first year of operation the shareholders would receive £13 4s 7d per share. This was a promising start as a return on their initial investment of £57 19s 9d per share.