Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1767 – 1768; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 140.

Muster roll for the ship, the Alert , sailing from Africa and Jamaica, 1786.
The Alert sailed for Cape Coast Castle (West Africa), and sailed from Africa with 321 slaves. The slaves were described as Fante and Asante; the names of two West African societies. 300 slaves were sold at Jamaica.

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: 1786

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers