Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1783 – 1784; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 93.

Muster roll for the ship, the Albion , from New York, 1783. The American War of Independence, 1775-1783, seriously disrupted British trade with mainland America. During this time few if any British ships went to the mainland. The Albion , a merchant ship, was one of very few Bristol ships listed as trading with America. This voyage might have sailed once the war was over, or the owners may have been trading with the enemy.

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: 1783

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers