Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1785 – 1786; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 78.

Muster roll for the ship, the Alexander, sailing from Africa and Grenada, 1785.
The Alexander sailed for Bonny, although the number of slaves bought is not known. At Grenada, 300 or 307 slaves were sold. The agents of the sale reported that many had died and some were very sick and almost unsaleable.

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

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers