Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1783 – 1784; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 136.

Muster roll for the ship, the Constantine, from Africa and St Vincents in the Caribbean, 1783. The number of slaves bought and sold is not known. Back in Bristol, the ship was advertised for sale. The advertisement stated that the ship had water casks sufficient for a cargo of 300 slaves.

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