Description:

From ships’ muster roll book, 29th September 1772 – 29th September 1773; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 141.
Muster roll for the ship, The Hector from Carolina, 1771.
The long length of the voyage (October 1771 – February 1773), and the large number of crew listed out, are clues to the fact that this is the last leg of a slaving voyage.
The Hector was under orders to buy 360 slaves in Angola, West Africa. 300 were advertised for sale in South Carolina.

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: 1771

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers