Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1793 – 1794; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Detail from muster roll no 203.

Detail from muster roll of the ship, The Levant.
Two crew were taken on in Calabar, in the Caribbean. One was from Exeter. The other was born in Calabar, and was perhaps a free black sailor.

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).

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