Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1785 – 1786; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 108.

Muster roll for the ship, the Thomas , sailing from Bristol to Africa, 1785.
The Thomas sailed for New Calabar and Bonny, West Africa. It was reported to have 420 slaves on board, but reached Barbados with 373, and St Vincents with 360 – 370. It is not clear how many slaves were bought and how many died during the voyage.

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