The Seamen's Sixpence

Between the voyage book of Judith, 1677–81, and the Seamen's Sixpence muster rolls beginning in 1747, a picture of the men who manned the growing fleet, of their conditions of service, training and career structure and welfare, begins to emerge. Crews were listed, masters named, and ‘posts on board’ indicated within some of the surviving voyage books, as were the wages paid, usually by the month.

The ‘Sixpence’, payable for each month or part of a month at sea for each seaman on board an English merchant ship, was intended for the upkeep of Greenwich Hospital for incapacitated naval seamen. Merchant seamen were not eligible for the hospital unless incapacitated during a naval engagement. After 1747 Whitby and other seaports which had either a Trinity House or a Seamen's Hospital became eligible for some of the proceeds of the local Sixpence collection, and muster rolls were thereafter kept at the port of collection instead of being returned directly to London. The primary use of the muster rolls was as evidence that the money had been deducted, but their existence means that after 1747 a much broader and clearer picture begins to emerge of the manning of the Whitby fleet.

The muster rolls

In the first two years of the muster rolls, 1747–48, the place of birth of members of the floating workforce which kept the industry going were given, in accordance with the Poor Relief Act of 1662. There was also a column for the ages of individual members, for the dates when they joined the vessel, and for their departure from the crew. From this was calculated the number of months and part-months for the deduction of the ‘Seamen's Sixpence’. A final piece of information indicated the manner of leaving, whether by discharge, death, desertion or, in time of war, by impressment. Each vessel carried a muster roll for its crew, which had to be presented to any naval press-tender seeking seamen for the Navy.

The money, and a summary of the information kept in the rolls, was then sent to the Receiver of Sixpences in London. The Whitby rolls were then copied up into ledgers, which were kept at the Seamen's Hospital.