THE ZORG

From the New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red discover the incredible true story and page turning account of the 18th century slave ship often known as the Zong yet actually named the Zorg ironically meaning care that sparked the human rights campaign to end the slave trade Perfect for fans of David Grann s The Wager and The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides Remarkable riveting Adam Hochschild historian and bestselling author of King Leopold s Ghost and Bury the ChainsIn 1781 the Zorg set off from The Netherlands to West Africa and from there onto the Caribbean The fateful voyage would alter the course of history forever By the time its journey ends the Zorg would become the first undeniable argument against slavery When a series of unpredictable weather events and navigational errors led to the Zorg sailing off course and running low on supplies the ship s captain threw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save the crew and the most valuable slaves The ship s owners then claimed their loss on insurance a first for slaves who had not been killed due to insurrection or died of natural causes The insurers refused to pay due to the higher than usual mortality rate of the slaves on board leading to a trial which initially found