Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1767 – 1768; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 187.

Detail of muster roll for the fifth voyage of the ship, the Wasp; sailing from Africa and St Vincents, 1786.
Crew member Edward Powell died at New Calabar. Other crew members Daniel Hawley and John Martin died during The Middle Passage. Eight other crew deserted in Africa or St Vincent, in the Caribbean.

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 - 1768

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers