Description:

From ships’ muster roll book, 29th September 1772 – 29th September 1773; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll for the ship, the St Helena for a voyage from South Carolina, 1772.
The crew, all Bristolians, signed-on in May. Some were discharged in South Carolina in August and September, and new crew, also Bristolians, taken on for the voyage home. The ship arrived in Bristol in November.

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: 1772

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers