Granville Sharp's manuscript letter to the admiralty on the Zong massacre: a new discovery in the British Library. (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Faubert, Michelle
• Is Part Of: Slavery & abolition. Volume 38:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 178
• Page End: 195
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Slavery -- Periodicals; Slavery -- Emancipation -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 306.36205
• DOI: 10.1080/0144039X.2016.1206285
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-039X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: During research at the British Library (BL) in May 2015, I discovered a previously unknown manuscript letter from 1783 by Granville Sharp to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The document concerns the case of the infamous Zong slave ship: Sharp wrote the letter to demand that the Admiralty bring murder charges against the crew of the Zong . This article argues that the BL letter is the only known fair-copy of Sharp's letter to the Admiralty, that the only other extant copy at the National Maritime Museum is a rough draft that should be considered as secondary to the BL letter, and that Sharp intended to publish the letter to the Admiralty.