Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1748 – 1749; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 16.

Muster roll for the ship, the Williamsburgh, from Africa and Jamaica, 1747.
The Williamsburgh sailed for Africa with orders to buy 400 slaves. The number actually bought is not known, but 365 were sold at Jamaica. One of the crew was Noblet Ruddock, later a merchant in his own right, with investments in slaving voyages, sugar and tobacco.

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: 1747

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers