The Zorg - by Siddharth Kara

About the Book

"In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning 'care') was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique. After reaching Africa, the Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. But a series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of water. So a proposition was put forth: Save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves -- by throwing dozens of people, starting with women and children, overboard. What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history -- sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States. Siddharth Kara utilizes primary-source research, gripping storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg's journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mysterious identity of the abolitionist who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship."--

Book Synopsis

"A book of great importance and one that will likely become a classic." - New York Times Book Review

One of The New York Times' 100 Most Notable Books of 2025

A Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2025

A New Yorker Essential Read

From the Pulitzer Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Perfect for fans of David Grann's The Wager and The Wide, Wide Sea by Hampton Sides

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa's Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning "care") was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.

By the time its journey ends, the Zorg would become 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 ship's captain threw more than a hundred slaves overboard in order to save the crew and the most valuable slaves. The ship's owners then claimed their loss on insurance, a first for slaves who had not been killed due to insurrection or died of natural causes.

The insurers refused to pay due to the higher than usual mortality rate of the slaves on board, leading to a trial which initially found in their favor, in which the Chief Justice compared the slaves to horses. Thanks to the outrage of one man present in court that day, a retrial was held. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery in a courtroom case that boiled down to a simple yet profound question: Were the Africans on board people or cargo?

What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England's highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front-page news. The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history―sparking the abolitionist movement in both England and the young United States.

The Zorg is the astonishing yet little-known true story of the most consequential ship that ever crossed the Atlantic.

Review Quotes

"Powerful ... gripping ... a book of great importance and one that will likely become a classic." --Marcus Rediker, The New York Times Book Review

"This remarkable, riveting book about a famous event of nearly two and a half centuries ago finds a raft of new information that generations of historians (myself included) have missed. And the episode involved was not just one more atrocity onboard a slave ship at sea; it was the spark that helped ignite the greatest human rights movement of all time." --Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost

"Mass murder aboard a slave transport, half-forgotten today but an iconic event...A vivid historical footnote, but also a milestone." --Kirkus

"A compelling, meticulously researched tale told with compassion and clarity, The Zorg reveals the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade and the humanity that led to its demise." --Hallie Rubenhold, bestselling author of The Five and The Story of a Murder

"The history at the heart of The Zorg is urgent, unflinching, and utterly essential. Siddharth Kara brings overdue attention to stories that demand to be known." --Dr. Anthony Delaney, author of Queer Georgians and podcast host of After Dark

"enthralling and elegant...a harrowing glimpse of slavery's horrors and an incisive investigation into one of history's most reviled crimes." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Based on extensive primary research, this powerful tale about greed and cruelty highlights the nearly forgotten story that launched a key campaign against enslavement. VERDICT Readers interested in the study of enslavement and maritime history will seek out this title." --Library Journal

"Kara's book reads like a thriller, narrative nonfiction at its finest" --Time Magazine

"harrowing history" --The New Yorker

"Mr. Kara's book stands as a testament to the Africans who perished on the Zorg and to all who endured centuries of exploitation during the trans-Atlantic slave trade." -- The Wall Street Journal

"An epic in miniature, The Zorg is one of this year's superlative nonfiction books." --Hamilton Cane, Minnesota Star Tribune

About the Author

SIDDHARTH KARA is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. Kara has written several books and reports on slavery and child labor, including the New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Cobalt Red. Kara also won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. He has lectured at Harvard University and held a professorship at the University of Nottingham. He divides his time between Los Angeles and London.