Insurance Litigation Involving the Zong and Other British Slave Ships, 1780–1807

Abstract

The infamous Zong case played an instrumental part in the abolition movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and it is well known to historians of the slave trade. Not so well known, however, are the characteristics and practices of insuring slave cargo. Also the full story of the Zong incident and the subsequent litigation in the court of King's Bench has never been told. This article first explains the manner in which the standard Lloyd's marine insurance policy was understood by ship owners and merchants. Special adaptations for slave cargo are then examined, such as the circumstances in which the loss of slave cargo would not be covered because not due to ‘perils of the sea’, and exclusions for slave insurrections. Finally, the Zong case itself is explored, as enlarged by scarce and newly-discovered documentary sources. Two surprises emerge: that the words used in the printed Lloyd's marine insurance policy did not necessarily mean what they said; and that the legal strategy employed in the court of King's Bench on behalf of the owners was seriously flawed.