Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1783 – 1784; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 100.

Muster roll for the ship, the Pearl , from Bristol to Africa and St Vincents, 1783. The Pearl sailed for Old Calabar, in Nigeria, with just under £5000 worth of trade goods to buy an unknown number of slaves. At St Vincent, 295 slaves were sold for an average price of £24 1s 6d (equivalent to £1,203 10s 0d at today’s values).

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