Page 22 - Insurance Times September 2023

Historical

Maritime

Fraud

Dr. Soumi Mukherjee
S. S. Zong (18th Century) Media Officer
International Police Organization

The marine insurance industry was not stranger to fraudulent claims at that time. When an insured
shipowner decides deliberately and unlawfully to wreck his own vessel or his cargo, one can be
sure that the money and stakes involved are pretty high. The added benefit however, is that if all
goes according to the plan, all the physical evidence can be easily buried off in the depths of the
ocean floor.

O n August 1781, a British slave ship, S.S. Zong machinery underwriters. Many a times, it also has been to

(110 tons Square Stern Ship: Registered at
take advantage of the loopholes in an existing law or act.
Liverpool, UK; Ship's Hull and Cargo Insured by
Lloyds of London) left Ghana with 442 slaves
(cargo) aboard - twice the number it was designed to carry The Zong was an unlucky ship on an unlucky voyage. It had
an inexperienced captain - Luke Collingwood, a surgeon by
- bound for Jamaica. When it reached the Black river in trade who had never commanded a slave vessel. It also had
Jamaica on December 22, 1781; only 208 slaves remained a small and quarrelsome crew, who were at loggerheads
to be sold. The rest of the 132 captive slaves were brutally with each other by the time that the Zong had reached the
murdered by the crew of the ship. Caribbean after an unusually long Atlantic crossing. First,
after leaving St. Kitts in mid-November 1781 the crew
The marine insurance industry was not stranger to discovered that their water barrels were leaking, meaning
fraudulent claims at that time. When an insured shipowner that water supplies became short by the time that the ship
decides deliberately and unlawfully to wreck his own vessel neared Jamaica (though no sailor or captive was put on short
or his cargo, one can be sure that the money and stakes allowance). Second, someone made the disastrous decision
involved are pretty high. The added benefit however, is that of mistaking the western end of Jamaica for Cape Tiburon
if all goes according to the plan, all the physical evidence in astern Saint-Domingue. This navigational error meant
can be easily buried off in the depths of the ocean floor. that by 29 November 1781 the Zong was hopelessly off-
course, becalmed somewhere off the south-west of Jamaica,
It would be wrong to assume that, in many cases, the far away from its intended landing point of Kingston.
presumed reason for an owner to take such a drastic step is
to simply scoop out an insurance pay out from their hull and Adrift, with water running low and fearing slave insurrection

20 September 2023 The Insurance Times