Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History
The Zong Massacre: The Slave Ship Case That Shocked Britain
In 1781, the British slave ship Zong set sail from Africa to Jamaica. When a navigation error led to a water shortage, Captain Luke Collingwood ordered 133 enslaved Africans thrown overboard alive. But this was no act of desperation—it was an insurance fraud. The subsequent 1783 court case, Gregson v. Gilbert, centered not on murder but on whether the lost 'cargo' was covered by maritime insurance. Lord Mansfield's ruling that it was 'as if horses' were thrown overboard sparked outrage. Abolitionist Granville Sharp and former enslaved writer Olaudah Equiano seized on…
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