Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1783 – 1784; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive. Muster roll no: 157.

Muster roll for the ship, the Apollo, from St Lucia, Caribbean. 1784. St Lucia was owned by the French and so there was usually little trade between the island and the British ships.

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: 1784

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers