Lloyds was built on ensuring Africans suffered a life of abuse.

Lloyds was founded in 1688 by Edward Lloyd the proprietor of a coffeehouse. His Coffeehouse was frequented by sailors, merchants and shipowners of the slave trade. It was from here the Lloyds empire began. Lloyds would offer insurance on Africans being transported to the New World. The insurance was only paid out if the Africans died at sea, if enslaved Africans arrived on land the policy would end. It soon became common knowledge to the throw the sick Africans overboard to ensure a profit.

As was common practice, the crew of the Zong in 1781 packed on many more Africans than there was room for and, as a result, disease and malnutrition had claimed the lives of seven white men and sixty enslaved Africans. One day the captain Luke Collinwood decided that all remaining sick Africans should be thrown overboard to protect the crew and the remaining cargo of slaves. It is said that he assembled the crew and explained that throwing the Africans overboard whilst they were still alive, for the safety of the ship, would result in the ship's underwriters bearing the cost. Allowing the Africans to die a natural death on board would make it the loss the crew's responsibility. European laws, at this time, stated;

The insurer takes upon him the risk of the loss, capture, and death of enslaved Africans, or any other unavoidable accident to them: but natural death is always understood to be excepted: by natural death is meant, not only when it happens by disease or sickness, but also when the captive destroys himself through despair, which often happens: but when Africans are killed, or thrown into thrown into the sea in order to quell an insurrection on their part, then the insurers must answer.

Lloyds inadvertently gave sailors an excuse to drown thousands of Africans.