Description:

From ledger of ships’ muster roll, 29th September 1793 – 29th September 1794; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Articles of agreement for the ship, the Fame , 1792 .
The Fame sailed for Old Calabar in West Africa in 1792, shipping 201 enslaved Africans to Grenada. Between 65 – 72 died on the voyage and the master felt that there was never a worse cargo of slaves shipped from Africa .The agents who sold them reported that there is not…one good slave in the ship .

The muster roll is a list of all crew signed on for all or part of a voyage, which was used to calculate the money each man should pay to the Sailors Hospital Fund (insurance).

Articles of agreement set out the terms and conditions of a voyage. The Articles was a standard printed form, listing the food rations and financial arrangements the crew would receive.

The Society of Merchant Venturers is a Bristol-based organisation, which was formed in 1552 as an elite body of merchants involved in overseas trade. The Society still exists today.

Date: 1792

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers