The+Case+of+the+Zong

The case of the slave ship ZONG, 1781 On 6 September 1781, the slave ship Zong sailed for the West Indies from Sao Tomé, an island off the coast of West Africa, carrying about 470 slaves and a crew of 17. The ship was owned by Liverpool banker and slave trader William Gregson and his colleague George Case. A month into the journey a high percentage of the slaves and crew had died or were **sick** and unlikely to recover. Luke Collingwood, the ship's master knew that if death were a result of natural causes, the insurers wouldn't pay them for their losses.

They would pay however, if it had been necessary to kill them for the safety of the ship. Luke Collingwood told the insurers that the water was running short and in order to save the crew and the ship, they had been forced to throw 133 slaves overboard, alive, into the sea. A small number of slaves managed to break free from their captors and jump to their death, before they were thrown. As it happened, the insurers refused to pay the claim and the case was taken to court twice in 1783, the owners demanding to be paid £30 for each 'lost' slave. Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano heard about this case and told fellow abolitionist Granville Sharp, who immediately launched a campaign for justice. Within three days he had instructed solicitors to start proceedings 'against all persons concerned in throwing into the sea 133 slaves' and demanded that those of the crew who had survived should be tried for murder.

Watch a speech made by the solicitor who defended the crew's actions