Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1748 – 1749; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 138.

Muster roll for the ship, the Levant, sailing from Bristol to Africa, Virgina USA and back to Bristol, 1748.
The Levant sailed for Africa with instructions to buy 450 slaves. The number actually bought is not known: only 252 were sold at Virginia.

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