Granville Sharp Presses Prosecution in the Zong Case — Establishing Abolition as a Legal Cause

Abolitionist Granville Sharp learned of the Zong massacre and pressed the Crown to prosecute Captain Collingwood for murder. Lord Mansfield — the same judge who decided Somerset — ruled that insurers must pay the claim, treating the killing as a commercial dispute rather than murder. No criminal charges were brought. But the case galvanized British abolitionism: Sharp publicized it widely, it directly inspired Thomas Clarkson's research, and Olaudah Equiano brought it to Sharp's attention.