Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from the 29th September 1765 – 29th September 1766. Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 246.

Part of muster roll for the ship, the Elizabeth from Barbados.
The master, Nichols Pocock, was also an artist. He drew the ship’s portraits , which show scenes of Tradeing on ye coast of Africa and probably had served on slaving ships before taking command of merchant ships trading from Bristol to the Caribbean.

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: 1760s

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers