Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1785 – 1786; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 59.

Muster roll for the ship, the Emilia , sailing from Jamaica, 1785.
Although the muster roll says from Jamaica , this was only the last leg of a slaving voyage to Bonny, in West Africa. The number of slaves bought is not known, but 360 were sold at Jamaica.

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: 1785 - 1786

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers