Zong massacre

The massacre on the Zong was a mass murder of enslaved Africans in the British slave ship Zong. Meanwhile, the crew threw in 1781 during the crossing from Accra to Black River in Jamaica about 142 for sale certain people into the sea to avert a feared water shortages due to a navigational error. On to more than double the usual overloaded with 442 slave ship the Jamaican coast had been held for the French Saint- Domingue on Hispaniola.

The mass murder was motivated by insurance matters; in the civil dispute over the events had insurance then also occur because the slaves had died at sea, ie during the validity of the insurance coverage, and their killing was justified as " Notwurf " to rescue the remaining " charge ". A murder trial, as it strove Granville Sharp, however, was never carried out.

In contrast to the sinking of the Royal George, which triggered funeral services and solidarity events around the same time in the whole Empire, the mass murder on the Zong initially remained entirely without public response. Medium term, however, he played a role in the rise of the abolitionists in the late 18th century that made the Zong become a symbol of the cruelty of slavery.