During its long life the Chest experienced many difficulties. Until the late eighteenth century, and particularly before 1660, seamen's wages were often significantly less than the official rates while payments to the Chest remained fixed. As a consequence many seamen were required to contribute amounts exceeding of their pay. Despite the mechanism of five separate officials being required to open the Chest, large quantities of funds went missing. Further, in the early 1620s King Charles I simply appropriated the Chest's contents for payment of unrelated debts.