Remembering the ‘Zong massacre’
Published:Friday | December 20, 2019 | 12:22 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
December 22, a day that should be cemented into the consciousness of all Jamaicans. On that day in 1781, the slave ship Zong arrived in Black River, St Elizabeth, with little more than half of the ‘cargo’ – enslaved Africans, stocked on-board.
They were forcefully loaded into the ship in Ghana but before reaching its destination in Jamaica, 122 of them perished.
Professor Verene Shepherd, director at the Centre for Reparations Research at the University of the West Indies, Mona, said its significance must never be forgotten.
“The Zong massacre reminds us of a time in history that so many of us would like to forget. However, unless those who perpetrated this wrong – or whose ancestors perpetrated this wrong – find it in their hearts to apologise and work with us to heal the wounds of the past, then the Zong will be as present as any other account of torture and brutality,” Shepherd said.
She said an injustice without a remedy was offensive to the spirit of justice.
The story of the Zong’s voyage began in 1781, when a Liverpool syndicate led by one of the city’s major traders in enslaved Africans, William Gregson, on a slaving voyage in the area of Cape Coast and Anamabu, bought an impounded ship previously owned by the Dutch and called Zorgue (ironically, meaning ‘care’ in Dutch).
There were already 244 enslaved Africans on board, and they became part of the transaction.
During the five months before the ship sailed, more Africans were bought in the area of Cape Coast and Accra (Ghana), and placed on board.
Under the captaincy of the inexperienced Luke Collingwood, previously the surgeon on another ship – the William – and a hastily assembled crew, the Zorgue, now renamed Zong, set off on its journey to Jamaica on 18 August 1781.
Before the Atlantic crossing, it made a stop in São Tomé, leaving there on September 18, 1781.
On board the ship destined for Black River in Jamaica, some 4,000 miles away, were 440 enslaved people, 19 crew members (including first mate James Kelsall and second mate Joseph Wood) and a passenger, Robert Stubbs, a former slaver captain, who would later have to captain the ship temporarily when Collingwood fell ill.
Like most slavers, the Zong took on too many people for the size of the ship; this vessel was small – only 110 tons – and should have on board just 193 people.
Its journey was slow and having sailed from further south than most slavers in the 17th century and 10 weeks after leaving São Tomé, the Zong arrived in Tobago, after which it continued on its journey to Black River – a total journey of 100 weeks, according to prolific American historian James Walvin.
Historical evidence indicates that the Zong veered off course near Haiti, losing time, before it got back on course for Jamaica.
By then, complaints of water shortage, illness and death among the crew, along with poor navigational and leadership decisions, all created a level of confusion aboard.
Towards the end of November 1781, many of the Africans, around 62 of them, had started to die from disease and malnutrition.
“It should be recalled that the 244 already on board when the ship was resold had endured an inordinately long period in the hold; and no one knows how long before that they had on-board,” a statement from The Centre for Repatriation Research read.
With the captain and crew arguing that water and rations would not last for everyone on board before arrival in Jamaica, the decision was made to jettison some Africans in order to avoid more deaths and threaten the profitability of the journey and the possibility of claiming insurance for ‘lost cargo’.
Historical evidence mentioned that at 8p.m. on November 29, 1781, some 54 enslaved Africans, mainly women and children, were dragged from below deck, unshackled and shoved from the ship through the cabin window and into the open expanse of the ocean.
Two days later, on December 1, a further 42 men were thrown overboard, handcuffed and in irons, from the quarterdeck. A third batch of eight was murdered later.
The Centre for Reparation Research became operational in 2017 and conducts research into the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade in Africans and European colonialism, in the hope of bringing transformational justice to the region and societies affected by the trade.
It supports the efforts of groups seeking to foster public awareness on the cruel and unjust systems that have left a legacy of disenfranchisement, and works closely with groups at the community, national, regional and international levels to advocate for reparation. There is particular focus on CARICOM’s Reparatory Justice programme.
n Part one of a two-part feature on the slave ship, Zong .