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Book

The Zorg : a tale of greed and murder that inspired the abolition of slavery

Call Number

  • 306.362 K1811 (CEN)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2025.

Physical Description

xvi, 288 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm

Summary

"From Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red: A notorious slave ship incident that led to the abolition of slavery in the UK and sparked the US abolitionist movement In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning "care") was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique. After reaching Africa, the Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. But a series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of water. So a proposition was put forth: Save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves-by throwing dozens of people, starting with women and children, overboard. What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history-sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States Siddharth Kara utilizes primary-source research, gripping storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg's journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mysterious identity of the abolitionist who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes

Map on endpapers.

Contents

  • Part I. Two ships
  • The William and the city that slavery built
  • Sailing to Guinea
  • De Zorg
  • Part II: The Gold Coast
  • Castles and dungeons
  • Coffle
  • "A wicked and treacherous character"
  • Door of no return
  • Part III. Middle passage
  • São Tomé
  • "Violent sickness and mortality"
  • Part IV. Dead reckoning
  • The descent
  • The scramble
  • Part V. Truth and judgment
  • The Guildhall trial
  • An anonymous letter
  • Equiano calls on Sharp
  • Gregson v. Gilbert: Day 1
  • Gregson v. Gilbert: Day 2
  • Part VI. From Zorg to freedom
  • "A victory for the whole human race"
  • Epilogue: Who wrote the anonymous letter?

Subjects