14. The Middle Passage’s Macabre Calculations
A slave ship captain whose vessel ran low on food or water while crossing the Atlantic often turned to macabre calculations. Once he figured out that the remaining victuals could sustain only a certain number of slaves, the dark logic of the situation called for the disposal of the excess human cargo. So they were thrown overboard, to drown or be devoured by the sharks that routinely trailed slave ships. The most infamous and best-documented incident of slavers throwing live Africans overboard occurred on the slave ship Zong, in late November 1781.
The ordeal began on November 29th, and lasted for days, during which the ship’s captain went on a killing spree in which he had over 130 Africans thrown overboard to drown in the Atlantic. The event, which came to be known as the Zong Massacre, shocks modern sensibilities. At the time, however, such occurrences were sufficiently common that this instance would probably have been forgotten, save for one twist. An insurance fight erupted between the ship’s owners and their insurance company.
