#Zong

[ltwilliammowett]

The Zong affair

J.M.W. Turner took up a serious incident in 1840 and expressed it in a painting. The incident was the so-called Zong Affair, which changed the attitude towards the British slave trade.

The Slave Ship, by J.M.W. Turner, 1840 (x) 

The Zong was until 1777 a Dutch slaver under the name Zorg and after her carpering she belonged to William Gregson and George Case, two well known merchants in the city of Liverpool and former mayors of the city. She sailed from the west coast of Africa on September 6, 1781 with 442 Africans bought as slaves on board, which made the ship completely overloaded and so she did not have sufficient supplies for such a large number of slaves. The poor people were chained in pairs, right leg and left leg, right hand and left hand, each of them having less space than a man in a coffin. The journey took nearly two months, and during that time most of the slaves were malnourished and suffering from disease. Captain Collingwood had lost his way in the Caribbean, which further prolonged the voyage. 60 slaves and 7 crew members had already died, and Collingwood knew that those who survived in poor condition would not fetch a high price on the slave market. He decided to use the lack of fresh water as an excuse to note that his "crew was endangered" to justify throwing 133 living slaves overboard. A reason that had a sinister background.

55 more were thrown overboard on November 29, and another 42 on November 30. A heavy rainstorm the following day provided fresh water, but another 26 slaves were thrown overboard that day, and another 10 jumped in to defy the captain, hugging each other as they sank. It was later claimed that the slaves were thrown overboard for the safety of the ship, as the ship did not have enough water to keep them alive for the rest of the voyage. This claim was later refuted as the ship still had 420 gallons (1910 liters) of water when it arrived in Jamaica on December 22. Let's move on to the reason why Captain Collingwood threw the people overboard alive. Behind it was an insurance policy. Because if a slave died on board, the insurers would not pay, seeing this as "poor cargo management." They would only pay the full sum insured if a slave went overboard alive. The owners demanded £30 per head from the insurers, which was disputed. The owners' lawyer argued, "These people are not charged with murder at all, there is not the slightest allegation”. After the insurers appealed, Lord Chief Justice Manfield upheld the shipowners: "The question left to the jury was whether it was necessary that the slaves should be thrown into the sea, for they had no doubt that the case of the slaves was the same as if horses had been thrown overboard." This ruling that removal was lawful led to a significant turning point in abolitionist campaigns.

The nondenominational Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787. The following year, Parliament passed the first law regulating the slave trade, the Slave Trade Act of 1788, to limit the number of slaves per ship. In 1791, Parliament prohibited insurance companies from compensating shipowners when enslaved Africans were murdered by being thrown overboard. A monument to enslaved Africans murdered on Zong was erected in Black River, Jamaica.

[teainspoons]

Zhen Tea’s Zong Zi Keemun | Tea Review

[thewhimsically]

My all time favorite bong!!! Was cleaning her one day outside on the pavement and barely knocked her over, the rest is history, but here she is in all her good glory.

[booloocrew-blog]

Ghost Janitor Lyrics (music by @louiezongillustration)

The lights are off now, it’s my time to go

Put on my hat now, don’t worry, the boss knows

Let’s see the list now, and figure out what to do…

I water the plants, all one hundred pots,

Empty the trash, sweep, can’t miss a single spot

Sure it’s hard work, but, the job is so dear to me…

When the darkness, brings intruders,

And there’s nobody left to defend

That’s when I come and shout,

I scare them away, scare them away,

It’s near closing so, I finish my time,

The place looks nice, plus, it’s polished and shiny

I put my hat up, and finally say good day…

Have a good day!

•••

Fanmade Lyrics to this song:

[chernobog13]

Terrors of the Jungle #7 (December, 1953).  Cover by L.B. Cole.

This comic book was published by L.B. Cole’s Star Publications, and consisted of stories reprinted from earlier in the Golden Age.

Bride of the Devil-Beast, the lead (and extremely short) story in this issue, basically came from one of those questions I’m sure fans asked back then: What if Tarzan fought King Kong?

That’s actually a great concept, and one author Will Murray explored in his 2016 novel King Kong vs. Tarzan.

So it made since for writer/artist JayDisbrow to tackle that concept in comic form.  Except, instead of Tarzan you get his look-alike knock-off, Torga, and the giant ape is named.....wait for it.....ZONG!

Disbrow throws everything from the original King Kong film into his 6-page story: the white woman captured by a hostile tribe, the tribe chanting a familiar-sounding song, the giant wall that keeps Kong--I mean, Zong--from attacking the tribe, the sacrificial altar that the woman is tied to, and Kong--darn it!  I mean Zong!--carrying said woman off into the mountains.

The noises these people and creatures make are something else.  “Groof!  Agraf!” is something I’ve never heard a gorilla - giant or otherwise - say.  And I’ve spoken to more than my fair share.

“AIEECH!”?? Is Luana trying to scream or tell us the eighth letter in the alphabet?

“AAAHHHOOOOAAAAGH!”??  Torga’s trying to sound like one of those old timey cartoon car horns.

Tarzan would normally yell “Kreegah!” (or, the more formal “kreegah bundolo!”) in situations like this.  However, Torga ain’t Tarzan, so he says “Kigah!” instead.

Given my long experience battling giant apes, I find it extremely unlikely that Torga’s puny knife was able to penetrate Zong’s chest, much less his heart.  Nor do I believe that Zong was unable to reach or throw the jungle man off.  On the other hand, Torga used the excellent tactic of slicing the beast’s carotid artery which, as illustrated here, was the more successful attack.

Zong was also very accommodating by plunging to his death directly atop the chief villain of the piece.

And there you have it!  Not quite how Edgar Rice Burroughs would have done it, had he been given the chance.  Still, Disbrow only had 6 pages to tell his story, while still packing in as many jungle tale cliches as he could.

The bulk of the issue is two reprinted stories featuring Rulah, Jungle Goddess by the master of Good Girl art, Matt Baker.  While they are both superior to the first tale, Rulah doesn’t battle a giant ape, which is probably why she didn’t get the lead.

[bookkats]

Questions

A Poem Questioning Is so beautiful Have You EverEv er Been caught unawares by a  Child’s questioning queering your  brain inmaking you ketchup the sandwich of the world?Your drive in terIn ter rupted GoalsRe ViseYou cannot Block the Sunwith the  VisorToo  Brightly  Eyeing Shin shin ShiningQuest QuestioningQuer Queering Queurying Requeering Requestioning Quest-ReQueer-Re Quester-Eye Jester-…

[notchainedtotrauma]

The gurgle ain't nothing but the sign of the life of the submerged, the sound of water currents attempting to eclipse such breath and breathing.

from Lonely Letters by Ashon T. Crawley

[cuddlyclover]

Afternoon hits from the zong

[stonedxsnail]

[metalhead-brainrot]

[Album of the day] Zong - Astral Lore

Sunshine Coast, AUS // 2022

[Genres] space rock, stoner rock, heavy psych

[Themes] spaaaaace

[FFO] Sleep, King Buffalo

[Thoughts] Astral Lore is relaxing space rock that nevertheless held my interest with complex psychedelic riffs. I don't know a ton about this specific release, just that space rock this excellent is hard to find.

This album was sent from one of my favorite Bandcamp pages: WEEDIAN is a not so much a record label but a curator. Ostensibly based out of Antartica*, WEEDIAN's mission is to inform you about every stoner rock scene around the globe. Their compilations are often ~40 songs, all stoner rock, doom, etc.** from underground artists.*** They serve as a great crash-course for regional scenes in the stoner nebula. When I like a song, I'll jot down the artist and check out their other material. This way I find my favorites from around the world.

I also follow WEEDIAN on Patreon,**** and as a result I also get free download codes for underground stoner albums. I can't overstate how huge these curated picks can be; WEEDIAN selects were some of my favorite releases in 2023. Giving free codes of new albums helps underground artists spread the word about their music in the digital era; now that I have the album I'll play it in front of friends, and I'm following your page so I'll hear when merch/tours go up.

o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::> o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::> o()xxxx[:::::::::::::::::>

* Probably true, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

** heavy psych, acid rock, kosmiche, space rock, krautrock, desert rock, sludge, occult rock, heavy blues. The works.

*** As I understand it, WEEDIAN contacts the artist which consents to have one of their songs shared. I'm not sure if money changes hands, but it seems popular enough that each compilation has hours of music.

**** Yeah, for $4.20 per month.

[thewhimsically]

Head in the clouds, keeping it casual.

[musingartblog]

Early concept of zong

[wally-b-feed]

Anthony Fineran (B 1981), Zara Ghati Zong, 2023

[bookkats]

Juneteenth

The seaWas A refugeA prayerA different kind ofof liberation I think about How Bones And shellsThe same And I keepHoping One dayLiberationWill tasteMore likeThe freedomOf the sea And less likeThe saltOf blood