Description:

From ships’ muster roll book, 29th September 1772 – 29th September 1773; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 213.
Muster roll for the ship, the Betsy from Bristol to Africa, St Christopher and Bristol, 1771.
Two ships named the Betsy sailed for Africa in 1771. This, the larger ship, lost 21 crew on the voyage to St Kitts. The number of enslaved Africans bought and sold not known.

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