The French magazine Le Point commemorates the sinking of 122 slaves on November 29, 1781, the day when Luke Collingwood, captain of the British slave ship Zong, threw part of his "human cargo" into the sea.

She said in her

report

that after Collingwood felt that the "goods" in the hold of his ship had begun to deteriorate, due to the spread of dysentery, fever, diarrhea, and even smallpox among the slaves he was carrying, he threw them into the water.

The magazine stated that what disturbed the captain on that day was that every “nigger” who died would have a net loss of about 35 pounds sterling, and the charterer of the ship, James Gregson, would be angry with him, in addition to diminishing what he had hoped for in terms of profit, forgetting that 440 Africans had crammed them into the ship. , more than twice as much as planned.

Slaves are commodities, not people

She indicated that after 7 sailors and 60 slaves died of disease, the captain - a former surgeon - was very worried and had only one thing left, which was to throw all the sick blacks before they died on board the Zong, infecting others, and that is completely legal - according to the magazine. Because an honest merchant cannot be prevented from disposing of his merchandise as he pleases, especially since every slave is thrown into the sea to save the rest of the cargo for which insurance companies pay £30, unlike someone who dies of disease or is left on an island.


to the water

The quartermaster alone refused the captain's orders to his crew to throw the sick slaves into the water, but the rest of the crew threw them into the water for 3 days in a row, crying and resisting helplessly, and the captain and the sailors without mercy, and they see in the slaves nothing but damaged goods and loss of profits, and the law is on their side.

After 112 days, the ship Zong docked late in Jamaica, carrying 208 African survivors, but the justice of heaven wanted Captain Collingwood, who arrived very ill, to die after 3 days of unloading, so that the co-owners, upon the return of the ship to Liverpool, announce their losses to the insurance companies to receive compensation for 122 slaves were sacrificed.

During the trial, many well-known anti-slavery campaigners entered the fray on the side of the Africans who had been taken from their land, but the Attorney-General for England and Wales said “What is this allegation that human beings have been thrown into the sea? Insanity to accuse these honest men of murder. They acted as necessary and in the most appropriate manner."

In the end, the Chief Justice of the Court, Lord Mansfield, refused compensation, blaming the captain for overloading his ship!