#jettison
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The #slaveship Zong departed the coast of Africa on 6 September 1781 with 470 slaves. Since this #humanchattel was such a valuable commodity at that time, many captains took on more slaves than their ships could accommodate in order to #maximizeprofits . The Zong’s captain, #LukeCollingwood , overloaded his ship with slaves and by 29 November many of them had begun to die from disease and malnutrition. #TheZong then sailed in an area in the mid-Atlantic known as “the #Doldrums ” because of periods of little or no wind. As the ship sat stranded, sickness caused the deaths of seven of the 17 crew members and over 50 slaves.Increasingly desperate, Collingwood decided to “#jettison” some of the cargo in order to save the ship and provide the ship owners the opportunity to claim for the #lossontheirinsurance. Over the next week the remaining crew members threw 132 slaves who were sick and dying over the side. Another 10 slaves threw themselves overboard in what Collingwood later described as an “#ActofDefiance. ”Upon the Zong’s arrival in #JamaicaJamesGregson, the ship’s owner, filed an #insuranceclaim f or their loss. Gregson argued that the Zong did not have enough water to sustain both crew and the human commodities. The insurance underwriter, #ThomasGilbert, disputed the claim citing that the Zong had 420 gallons of water aboard when she was inventoried in Jamaica. Despite this the Jamaican court in 1782 found in favour of the owners. The insurers appealed the case in 1783 and in the process provoked a great deal of public interest and the attention of #GreatBritain‘s abolitionists. The leading abolitionist at the time, #GranvilleSharp, used the deaths of the slaves to increase public awareness about the #slavetrade a nd further the anti-slavery cause. It was he who first used the word massacre.Publicity surrounding the #ZongMassacre an d the first case led #WilliamMurray, t he #EarlofMansfield an d the Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, the highest court in Great Britain, to order a second trial. Mansfield presided and ruled in favour of the insurers. He also held that the cargo had been poorly managed as the captain should have made a suitable allowance
