Darkest Chapter in British History: The Zong

One of the darkest chapters in British history is tied directly to insurance. Lloyds used to insure slave ships and listed formerly enslaved people as “cargo”.

In November 1781, the crew of a British ship threw 132 enslaved Africans into the ocean. Alive. Not because of mutiny or disease, but because of an insurance clause. Under maritime law at the time, if enslaved people died of illness, the ship’s owners couldn’t claim the loss. But if they were thrown overboard as “jettison” aka a necessa