Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1788 – 1789; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 182.

Muster roll for the ship, the Thomas , sailing from Africa and St Vincent in the Caribbean, 1788.
The Thomas sailed for Calabar in West Africa. It is not known how many slaves were bought, but 349 were sold in St Vincent.

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