Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1767 – 1768; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 55.

Muster roll for the ship, the Boston Packet , sailing from Boston in New England, USA, 1767.
The Boston Packet was one of many ships supplying the colonies with manufactured goods. The colonies were seen as a market for British-made goods, and were discouraged from developing their own industries. The colonies were meant to supply raw materials for British industry.

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: 1767

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers