Description:

Ships’ muster rolls, from 29th Sep 1772 – 29th Sep 1773; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 162.

Muster roll for the slave ship African Queen which left Bristol in April 1773, sailed to Africa and then to Jamaica. It arrived back in Bristol in January 1774.

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: April 1773

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers