Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1767 – 1768; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 146.

Muster roll for the ship, the Brothers , sailing from Africa and St Vincents, in the Caribbean, 1785.
The Brothers sailed for Africa, and was reported as calling at Cape Coast Castle and Benin, both in West Africa. The number of slaves bought is not known, but 220 were sold at St Vincent. For 15 of the 40 crew who sailed from Bristol, this was their first 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