Shadrick Chapman was an ordinary seaman on the Richmond who lost his sight on board the slave ship. Temporary or permanent blindness was often due to opthalmia or inflammation of the eye, due to the squalid conditions.

From 1747, all sailors had to pay 6d a month into the Seaman's Hospital Fund as a form of insurance. They or their families could seek help from the Fund in the case of death or injury, to pay a regular pension or get one-off payments for food or clothing. In Bristol, the Society of Merchant Venturers administered the Fund. Those allowed a pension were called back at intervals, to check that they were still unable to work and still deserving of a pension.

Unable to work and therefore unable to earn money, Chapman petitioned the Seamen's Hospital Insurance Fund for help and was granted three shillings a week.