Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1785 – 1786; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 98.

Muster roll for the ship, the Alert , sailing from Africa and South Carolina, 1785.
The Alert sailed for Cape Coast with 225 slaves. At South Carolina, 205 were sold.

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