Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1786 – 1787; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 17.

Muster roll for the ship, the Bristol , sailing from Jamaica, 1786.
The Bristol was one of many merchant ships supplying the colonies with manufactured goods and foodstuffs. It was government policy that the colonies should be a market for British-made goods.
The usual place of abode for Samuel Rachell is given as Barbados, although there is no clue as to whether he is white or a free black sailor.

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