Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1784 – 1785; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 45.

Muster roll for the ship, the Africa, sailing from Africa and St Vincents, in the Caribbean.
The Africa sailed from Bristol for Sierra Leone. The number of slaves bought is not known, but 220 were sold at St Vincents.

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