Muster Roll Search
At the top of a muster roll, such as the one illustrated above, there is the ship’s name, the master’s name, the owner’s name, and various other details about the voyage and payments covered by the roll. This information, from all the muster rolls, has been transcribed and is presented in the roll table below. Also, a designated muster roll number is shown in the leftmost column.
The lower part of a muster roll lists the crew, giving their name, age, position on board, place of birth, place of residence, date of joining and leaving the ship, and other notable details. The same information for all crews is presented in the crew table (the second table below). Again, a roll number has been included in the leftmost column to indicate which muster roll this crew entry came from.
Beneath the heading for each of the table columns is a search box. Entering characters into any of these boxes will initiate a search in that column. For example, entering ‘Henrietta’ at the top of the ship name column of the roll table shows the entries for this ship. One of these entries is for roll number 2591, when Henrietta was a whaler. Entering ‘2591’ in the top of the roll number column of the crew table will reveal the 25 members of the crew under master Crispin Bean.
Working in the other direction it is possible to start with a search for a crew member on the crew table and transfer the roll number to the roll table to find which ship(s) they served on.
Don’t forget to clear all search fields before starting a new search.