“The Slave Ship” by J. M. W. Turner

“The Slave Ship” by J. M. W. Turner was initially titled “Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on.” Turner has depicted a ship, visible in the background, sailing through a tumultuous sea of churning water and leaving scattered human forms floating in its wake.

Turner was inspired to paint this picture after reading about the Zong massacre, in which a captain of a slave ship ordered 133 slaves to be thrown overboard in 1781 so that insurance payments could be collected.

The first impressions of “The Slave Ship” are of an enormous deep-red sunset over a stormy sea, an indication of an approaching typhoon, however on closer inspection, one can discern a sailing ship being bounced around in the white churning sea.

The masts of the vessel are blood-red, and the ship’s sails are furled in preparation for the typhoon. In the foreground can be seen the many bodies floating in the water.

Their chained hands and feet indicate that they are slaves. Looking more carefully, one can see fish and marine creatures swimming preparing to eat the slaves, and seabirds circling overhead.

The terrible events on the British slave ship Zong inspired Turner to create this maritime painting and to choose to coincide with its exhibition with a meeting of the British Anti-Slavery Society in 1840.

Although slavery had been outlawed in the British Empire in 1833, Turner and many other abolitionists believed that slavery should be banned around the world.

Turner thus exhibited his painting during the anti-slavery conference, and placed next to the picture his untitled poem, written in 1812:

“Aloft all hands, strike the top-masts and belay;
Yon angry setting sun and fierce-edged clouds
Declare the Typhon’s coming.
Before it sweeps your decks, throw overboard
The dead and dying – ne’er heed their chains
Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope!
Where is thy market now?”
– J. M. W. Turner

Zong Massacre

The Zong massacre was the mass killing of more than 130 African slaves by the crew of the British slave ship Zong in 1781.

A slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, England owned the vessel and sailed her in the Atlantic slave trade.

As was standard business practice, the syndicate had taken out insurance on the lives of the slaves as cargo.

When the ship ran low on drinking water following navigational mistakes, the crew threw slaves overboard into the sea to drown.

This cruel action was taken to ensure that the syndicate did not lose money on the slaves who would have died from the lack of water.

When the Zong’s owners made a claim to their insurers for the loss of the slaves, the insurers refused to pay.

The resulting court cases held that in some circumstances, the deliberate killing of slaves was legal and that insurers could be required to pay for the slaves’ deaths.

Eventually, the judge ruled against the syndicate in this case due to new evidence being introduced, suggesting the captain and crew were at fault.

Abolition of the Slave Trade

A freed slave from the Zong brought the news of the massacre to the attention of the anti-slavery campaigners, who worked unsuccessfully to have the ship’s crew prosecuted for murder.

Because of the legal dispute, reports of the massacre received increased publicity, stimulating the abolitionist movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787. The next year Parliament passed the first law regulating the slave trade to limit the number of slaves per ship.

Then, in 1791, Parliament prohibited insurance companies from reimbursing ship owners when slaves were thrown overboard.

The Zong events were increasingly cited as a powerful symbol of the horrors of the Middle Passage of slaves to the New World. Slavery was eventually outlawed in the British Empire in 1833.

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner, later more commonly called J. M. W. Turner, entered the Royal Academy of Art in 1789, aged 14. His first watercolor was accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition of 1790 when Turner was 15.

From a young art student trained in executing topographical watercolors, he became one of the most original artists of his time.

Turner was a Romantic painter, printmaker, and watercolorist, today known for his vivid coloration, imaginative landscapes, and turbulent marine paintings.

As a private, eccentric, and reclusive figure, Turner was controversial throughout his career. He left over 2,000 paintings and 19,000 drawings and sketches.

Turner’s emphasis on many of his works was on the colors. This painting exemplifies this focus on the interactions of various colors.

Few defined brush strokes appear in the picture, and objects, colors, and figures become indistinct. The colors in the art identify the objects.

Some objects, like the bodies of the slaves and the storm, have no real border at all. The bodies are solely determined by the contrast with the pigments around them.

Turner’s emphasis on color is typical of many Romantic works of the time.

The indistinct shapes and the pervasiveness of the sunset’s blood-red glow convey the focus on nature and illustrate the idea that nature is superior to man.

The Slave Ship

Title: The Slave Ship
Originally: Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on
Artist: J. M. W. Turner
Date: 1840
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 90.8 cm × 122.6 cm (35.7 in × 48.3 in)
Museum: Museum of Fine Arts

Turner’s Slave Ship

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Name: Joseph Mallord William Turner
Born: 1775 – Covent Garden, London, England
Died: 1851 (aged 76) – Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, England
Nationality: English
Movement: Romanticism
Notable works:
- The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
- The Fighting Temeraire
- Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino
- The Burning of the Houses of Parliament
- Newport Castle
- The Grand Canal, Venice
- Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway
- Dido Building Carthage
- Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth
- The Slave Ship
- Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps