Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1753 – 1754; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 154.

Muster roll for the ship, the Golden Fleece, sailing from Africa and Jamaica, 1752.
The Golden Fleece sailed for Cape Coast. This was a very long slaving voyage of just over 25 months. The ship seems to have spent a long time at the coast buying slaves, leaving for Jamaica in June 1753 with 190 enslaved Africans on board. 170 were sold at Jamaica. Six of the crew died during the voyage and several transferred to Royal Navy ships.

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: 1752

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers