Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1748 – 1749; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 112.

Muster roll for the ship, the Rainbow, which sailed from Bristol and to and from Africa and St Kitts in the Caribbean.
The Rainbow sailed for Africa with orders to buy 400 slaves. The number actually bought here and sold at St Kitts is not known. Amongst the crew is one Thomas Quaco, a free black sailor who had previously sailed on the slaving ship, the Emperor.

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: 1748

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers