132 LIVING AFRICANS MURDERED BY BEING THROWN OVERBOARD SLAVE SHIPS
132 LIVING AFRICANS MURDERED BY BEING THROWN OVERBOARD SLAVE SHIPS It happened among the Zong ship heading for Jamaica in 1781. The ship was coming to the end of its voyage from the west African coast and was carrying 470 slaves. Water and food were running low on the ship and there was a disease outbreak as well. The captain reasoned that the African slaves were going to die anyway, so in order to reduce the owner’s losses, he would throw overboard any slaves he felt were too ill to recover. The insurance of the voyage would cover slaves lost due to drowning. The captain gave the order: 54 Africans were chained together, then thrown overboard. Soon after, 78 were drowned over the next two days. By the time the ship had reached the Caribbean, 132 African slaves had been murdered. When the ship returned to England the owners made their claim — they wished to be compensated the full value for each slave lost. The claim might have been honored had if it had not been for former slave Equia...