Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 29th Sept 1765 – 29th Sept 1766; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 29.

Muster roll for the ship, the St James, sailing from Bristol to Jamaica and back again. The ship would have carried a cargo of provisions and other goods out to the Jamaican plantations and brought back goods produced there.

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: 1764 - 1765

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers