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Mayor of Casterbridge

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claimed there was only 4 days of drinking water left and Jamaica was 10-13 sailing days away. Lack of water and potential disease concerned the crew as the delivery of dead slaves would earn the shipowners nothing. If, however, the slaves were somehow lost at sea, then the shipowners’ insurance would cover the loss at £30 per head; so rather than allow the sick slaves to die on board and be rendered worthless, the crew would throw them overboard in three batches– and hence claim on the insurance. On November 29th, 54 sick slaves; mainly women and children, were thrown through cabin windows into the see. December 1st saw 42 male slaves thrown overboard, and finally on December 2nd, 36 more slaves were thrown overboard. Another 10 in an act of defiance at the inhumanity jumped overboard. When the news of the Zong '​s voyage reached Britain, the ship's owners claimed compensation from their insurers for the loss of the slaves. The insurers refused to honour the claim and were taken to court under Gregson v Gilbert (1783) 3 Doug. KB 232. There was the contention on whether or not the deliberate killing of slaves was legal and that insurers could be required to pay for the slaves' deaths. During the trial, evidence surfaced that heavy rain fell on the ship on the second day of the killings; The insurance underwriter, Thomas Gilbert, disputed the claim citing that the Zong had 420 gallons of water aboard when she was inventoried in Jamaica. yet the third batch of slaves were still killed. Mansfield ruled that rainfall meant that the killing of the third batch of slaves could not be justified in terms of the “greater necessity” of saving the ship and the rest of the cargo. Granville Sharp; an abolishm

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