THE ZORG

A horrific tale of the slave trade destined to become a classic New York Times PEN Literary Award Finalist 2026 New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2025 Time s 100 Must Read Books of 2025 The New Yorker 12 Essential Non Fiction Reads 2025From the author of New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Cobalt Red discover the shocking true story and riveting account of the 18th century slave ship whose journey from the high seas to the High Court 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 In 1781 the Zorg set off from the Netherlands to buy slaves in West Africa to sell in the Caribbean By the time its journey ended the Zorg became 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 crew s solution was to throw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save themselves and the most valuable slaves The ship s owners then claimed their loss on insurance The insurers refused to pay the claim due to the unusually high mortality rate of the slaves on board leading to a trial which initially found in favour of the ship