Luke Collingwood

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Captain Luke Collingwood (died 1781) was captain of the slave ship the Zong. He was a doctor aboard his previous slave ship and not experienced enough to captain one. During the voyage of the Zong on November 29, 1781, he decided to throw ill slaves overboard thus murdering 133 people. Collingwood, however, did not survive the journey either, dying mid-voyage. His living "cargo" had been insured against losses at sea, but not insured for any dead slaves off-loaded when he returned.

The insurance claim, revealing to the general public that under British law as it then stood it was no crime to throw slaves overboard, was among the factors which eventually led to the re-examination of policies towards slavery in Britain, which ultimately led to abolition of slavery by 1815.

The notorious incident would be the subject of a painting by British artist J. M. W. Turner many decades later.