7. Belle Knew About Abolition and the Cruel Treatment of Blacks, Including the Zong Massacre
Belle was believed to have such beautiful handwriting that she became secretary to Lord Mansfield. As his secretary, Belle would often write letters for her great uncle. This notion leads many historians to believe that Belle knew about what society was doing to blacks around the world. This concept also means that Belle could have readily known about one of Britain’s worst massacres in history, the Zong massacre. In 1781, a slave ship threw 132 slaves overboard. The ship’s owner claimed the vessel had run out of water and the crew had to sacrifice some slaves to save the 300 others on board.
Now they wanted their insurers to pay up for the lost “cargo.” However, the insurance company rejected the claim, which then found itself on Lord Mansfield’s desk. “It’s a very shocking case,” Mansfield told Belle to write. The legal argument hinged on whether the slaves had been killed out of necessity or whether, as suspected, they had become diseased during the journey and murdered for the insurance payout. In the end, the owners couldn’t prove necessity and the claims were dropped. Furthermore, for the rest of her days, Belle knew about the massacre as she was Lord Mansfield’s secretary at the time.