On November 29, 1781, the merchant ship Zong, belonging to a company based in Liverpool, set sail from Accra (Ghana) with 442 slaves – men, women and children – crammed into its holds. Errors in navigation, as explained by part of the crew, diverted the ship's course.
Fearing the possibility of running out of water, Captain Luke Collingwood made a drastic decision: he took 132 captives and mercilessly threw them overboard. When he returned to port, what was supposed to be a murder trial turned into a financial dispute between slave trader William Gregson and insurers.
One of the companies that participated in providing travel insurance for these slaves was Lloyd's of London, known even today for its importance in the British insurance market. Just a few days ago, Lloyd's – which already apologized in 2020 for its role in the slave trade – made public records documenting its participation in the 18th century catastrophe.
Two years after the Collingwood decision, in 1783, the Zong case reached the London courts. The union that owned the ship had filed a claim with the insurers and they appealed because they did not want to pay for the “cargo” that had been lost during the trip.
At that time, according to researcher Katie Donington in an article published in The Conversation magazine, insurance products were created to mitigate the dangers posed by sea travel, war, piracy and fires.
Insurrection was also considered a common threat, as up to 10% of slave voyages experienced uprisings by captives. On August 28, 1750, for example, the Anne of Liverpool was “cut off by the negroes on the coast of Guiney: the captain was killed instantly, and all the crew wounded.”
Alexandre White and Pyar Seth, members of the Black Beyond Data research center, were in charge of diving into the Lloyd's archives to find the records. Both experts estimate that in the 1790s, insurance for the slave economy represented 41% of the maritime insurance industry.
Until 1824, insurance brokers, including Lloyd's of London, Royal Exchange Assurance and the London Assurance Company, had a monopoly on marine insurance. Lloyds had a dominant share that allowed it to control between 75% and 90% of the market.
The few surviving documents include the risk books (books of insurance settlements) of two 18th century insurers, Horatio Clagett and Solomon D'Aguilar which provide details of the everyday practices and networks that enabled the trade.
Female slaves, for example, were secured as "property," which experts point to as "evidence of dehumanizing commodification and speculation on the financial value of the lives" of captives. The agreements set the value of an enslaved person at 45 pounds sterling, which is equivalent to 3,454.25 pounds today (about 4,000 euros). Also included were clauses unique to slave voyages: insurers would cover damage to the ship or any devaluation of slaves (including death) due to insurrection.
Nine founding members of Lloyds had links to slavery. Even so, it has not yet been possible to establish a direct link between John Julius Angerstein, known as the “father” of this insurance market, and the slave system.
The work of specialists has particularly contributed to documenting the fundamental importance that the financial organizations of the City of London had for the slave economy. “The inequalities of what historians today call ‘racial capitalism’ – where racism and capitalism intersect – are rooted in this history,” says Katie Donington.
