Details from the Davenport papers indicate how enslaved African people were often treated as little more than commodities. William Davenport was an important Liverpool merchant and ship-owner involved in the transatlantic slave trade. During his career, Davenport invested in about 160 slaving voyages in about 70 vessels.
The cost of sending a ship on these voyages was enormous, so multiple investors for a single voyage was common practice. However, if successful the profits could be much greater. Records from several of these voyages can be found in the account books, wages books and correspondence held by the Maritime Archives and Library at Merseyside Maritime Museum.