Description:

Ships’ muster rolls, from 29th Sep 1772 – 29th Sep 1773; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 220.

Muster roll of the ship, the Roebuck, which sailed from Bristol in 1772 to West Africa, where 340 enslaved Africans were purchased. The ship sailed across the Atlantic to the Caribbean island of Jamaica, where the slaves were sold. The ship then returned to Bristol.

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: 29th Sep 1772 - 29th Sep 1773

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers