35. Insuring Slaves
The Zong was owned by Liverpool’s Gregson Slave-Trading Syndicate. In what was common business practice at the time, the syndicate took out insurance on the lives of their human cargo. While crossing the Atlantic loaded with slaves, navigation mistakes caused the journey to take longer than expected. As a result, the food and water ran low. So the captain decided to reduce the number of mouths to feed and water by throwing over 130 Africans overboard.
When the Zong’s owners made a claim for the murdered slaves, the insurers refused to pay on grounds that the claimants had murdered the slaves they now wanted to get paid for. So the Gregson syndicate sued – and won in a jury trial. In Gregson v Gilbert (1783) 3 Doug. KB 232, it was held that murdering slaves was legal in the circumstances of the case, which meant that the insurers could be made to pay up.