The <i>Zong</i> Massacre
Magnify Image Request A Copy

French, A. M. (Austa Malinda), Slavery in South Carolina and the ex-slaves; or, The Port Royal Mission. (published 1862), New York, W.M. French, 1862.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

ID# 1150350

The Zong Massacre

The Zong was a British slave ship that left São Tomé in 1781 with 400 Africans on board. After an epidemic coupled with malnutrition and overcrowding had killed 60 Africans and seven sailors, the captain, Luke Collingwood of Liverpool, decided to throw overboard 133 sick Africans over three days to collect the insurance. The Zong landed in Jamaica in December. Collingwood had died en route. The court case on the insurance was settled in 1783 but no one was prosecuted for the killings. The ghastly episode created an uproar.