Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1751 – 1752; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 235.

Muster roll for the ship, the Emperor , 1751.
The Emperor reportedly sailed for the Congo. She arrived in South Carolina from Calabar, with 250 slaves. There are reports of a high death rate amongst the slaves on the middle passage, and those that survived were said to be in very poor shape.

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: 1751

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers