Description:

Ships’ muster rolls from 1787 – 1788; Society of Merchant Venturers’ archive.
Muster roll no: 25.

Muster roll for the ship, the Thomas , sailing for Bonny in West Africa.
410 slaves were bought, and 400 or 401 were sold at Tobago, in 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: 1786

Copyright: Copyright The Society of Merchant Venturers