Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1794 – 1795; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 85.

Muster roll for the ship, the African Queen, 1794. The African Queen left Bristol for Sierra Leone, buying 411 slaves. 407 were sold at Grenada, in the Caribbean. It was a very fast voyage, taking only 6 1/2 months for the round trip.

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: 1794

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers