Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1788 – 1789; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 70.

Detail of muster roll of the ship, the Wasp , sailing from Africa and Jamaica, 1787.
Crew members William Shields, Tols Carnelesen, Thomas Owen and Robert Gingell died at New Calabar or Anabona, trading posts on the African coast, between 13th February and 12th April 1788.

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: 1787

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers