Reference Number: L0462
Date: 1794
Extent: 3 items
Provenance: No known provenance but part of Lloyd’s Collection pre-1930

Description: These represent the only slave ship policies in Lloyd’s Collection for the ship the Guipuzcoa, both for the same voyage, from Liverpool to the coast of Africa and bound for Cuba. There is a ‘SG’ (Ship & Goods) printed policy on paper; a ‘Double SG’ printed on vellum; and a 19th century manuscript copy of the Double SG. The cognitive dissonance of underwriting enslaved Africans is encapsulated in this policy. The enslaved are objectified, commodified and dehumanised when they are refered to as ‘goods… valued at £45 each’, whilst their human agency is recognised through a clause mitigating the risk against uprisings: ‘Free from particular average by insurresction under 5 percent [on the ship] trading in boats 10 percent.’

Notes: For a deeper engagement with this document see the Underwriting Souls Exhibit “Insuring the Guipúzcoa”.