11. Nobody Was Prosecuted for the Zong Massacre, But it Nonetheless Set the Stage for the Abolition Movement
After the jury verdict was reversed on appeal, the Zong case was sent back to the lower court for a new trial. There is no evidence that another trial was ever held. By then, thanks to the efforts of a former slave named Olaudah Equiano, word of the Zong Massacre had spread. Led by anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp, the abolitionists demanded justice for the drowned slaves, and sought to have the ship’s crew prosecuted for murder. Their efforts to secure justice for the drowned slaves were unsuccessful, and nobody was ever criminally prosecuted for the killings.
Granville Sharp wrote both the Prime Minister and the Admiralty, but received no response. His attempts to get newspapers interested in the macabre episode also met with little success. However, thanks to his efforts and those of other activists, the massacre eventually began to attract national and international attention. As the macabre details of what had happened became more widely known, many were shocked into taking a stand against slavery, and they coalesced to launch the abolition movement. It was a gradual and long slog that took decades. Eventually, the British Royal Navy was tasked with the suppression of the international slave trade in 1807, and in 1833, Parliament abolished slavery in the British Empire.
You May Also Interested: The British Abolitionist Who Devoted His Life to Ending Slavery.
