Just reading about the Zong Case AKA Gregson v Gilbert.
Horrific, but tells you a lot about the motivations of slave traders & their attitude to their cargo.
In August 1781, Zong, a ship designed for approx 193 slaves sailed with 442 slaves aboard from Accra, Ghana to Jamaica.
Horrific, but tells you a lot about the motivations of slave traders & their attitude to their cargo.
In August 1781, Zong, a ship designed for approx 193 slaves sailed with 442 slaves aboard from Accra, Ghana to Jamaica.
On 18th November, the ship stopped in Tobago, but did not top up its water supplies.
On 28th November the crew sighted Jamaica 50km away, but thought it was Hispaniola (modern Haiti / Dominican Republic), so kept going.
On 28th November the crew sighted Jamaica 50km away, but thought it was Hispaniola (modern Haiti / Dominican Republic), so kept going.
They only realised they'd made a navigation mistake 300 miles later.
To get back to Jamaica they had to sail into the wind, so it would take 10-13 days, but they only had 4 days water left.
To get back to Jamaica they had to sail into the wind, so it would take 10-13 days, but they only had 4 days water left.
The solution agreed to by the crew was to chuck some slaves overboard and claim them on insurance (they were insured for £30 each).
On 29th November, 54 women & children were thrown through cabin windows into the sea.
On 1st December 42 male slaves & then 36 more in the next days
On 29th November, 54 women & children were thrown through cabin windows into the sea.
On 1st December 42 male slaves & then 36 more in the next days
In total, 142 Africans were killed by the crew by the time the ship reached Jamaica.
The ship arrived in Jamaica with 1,900 litres of water remaining, but said that some of this had been collected during a storm on 1st December (remember 36 slaves were killed after that date).
The ship's owners claimed compensation from their insurers for the loss of the slaves. The insurers refused to honour the claim & the owners took them to court.
This wasn't helped by a missing ships log.
This wasn't helped by a missing ships log.
The ship owners won the first case & the insurers appealed. After consultations with anti-slave-trade activist Granville Sharp, they accused the ship's crew of murder.
In the end the judge ruled that insurers weren't responsible for the crew's navigational errors.
In the end the judge ruled that insurers weren't responsible for the crew's navigational errors.
There is no record of any subsequent cases and nobody from the crew was ever tried for murder.
So here you have it - through their own incompetence at navigation combined with greed at over-filling the ship, the slave traders not only decided to murder 142 people - but happily admitted to it as the basis for an insurance claim. The ruling was only on the navigation error.
Although mention was made of murder, the lives were valued at nothing other than the sale price. It was treated like any other cargo.
It it no doubt help the abolitionist movement though.
#Slavetrade #Edwardcolston #BlackLivesMatter #BLM
More info:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zong_mass…
It it no doubt help the abolitionist movement though.
#Slavetrade #Edwardcolston #BlackLivesMatter #BLM
More info:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zong_mass…
Here's a good thread putting the Zong Case in the wider context of the abolition movement.
Reporting of it in the press exposed the UK public to the horrors of the trade and set the seeds for further reforms.
Reporting of it in the press exposed the UK public to the horrors of the trade and set the seeds for further reforms.
