Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1748 – 1749; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 235.

Muster roll for the ship, the Hawk, sailing from Africa and Antigua, 1749.
The Hawk sailed for Calabar, with instructions to buy 340 slaves. The number actually bought there and sold at Antigua is not known. Half of the crew of 28 seem to have died before the ship reached Antigua, in the Caribbean, most of them whilst the ship was at Calabar between November and January.

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: 1749

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers