Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 29th Sept 1765 – 29th Sept 1766; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 144.

Muster roll for the slave ship Africa, which left Bristol in 1765. The ship arrived on the coast of West Africa, where 310 enslaved Africans were purchased. It is believed the ship sailed to St Kitts in the Caribbean.The ship then sailed to Jamaica before returning eventually to Bristol. The enslaved Africans would have been sold in St Kitts or Jamaica.

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: 1765

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers