Student Sheet The Slave Ship Zong
A play in one act based on the true story of the Zong massacre
Cast List
Olau – an African boy of 13
Fola – an African girl of 11
Kuma – a young African man
(Will have a brand of some kind on his arm – but unseen)
Captain Luke Collingwood
Chief Mate James Kelsal
Scene: The year is 1781. The place is a corner below decks on the slave ship Zong. A number of people are sitting around or lying down. Some are chained together, including the character Kuma. It is obvious that some people are ill. The girl Fola, is crying quietly and is sitting a little apart from the others.
Olau creeps over beside the girl
Olau:Girl, why do you cry?
She stops crying but does not answer
Olau:I know you understand me. Why do you not answer?
She looks at him
Fola:My sister has been taken away. She was sick. What will happen to her?
Olau:I do not know.
A voice comes out of the crowd
Kuma:She will not come back
The two children look around, puzzled. The other people pay no attention. Kuma raises his arm.
Kuma:I said, she will not come back.
Olau:Someone else who speaks our language! Let’s get closer to him.
(They wriggle their way through the people sitting and lying until they reach Kuma)
Fola:What do you know about my sister?
Kuma:You said she was sick, didn’t you?
Fola, nods
Kuma:Well … I am sorry … she would not recover. No-one ever does in these rat holes!
Kuma pretends to spit, and waves his arm at the other sick people. Fola covers her face with her
hands. Olau touches her shoulder.
Olau:I am sorry too. What is your name girl?
Fola:My name is Fola
Olau:My name is Olau and I am of the Edo people from the city of Benin. Did you come from Benin?
Fola:Shaking her head - I do not know Benin.
I am an Igbo.
Olau:Well, at least we can speak to each other(he turns to Kuma) And to you. I have been many, days on this ship with no-one to speak to.
Kuma:Many African languages are spoken on the slave ships. We are lucky to have found each other. My name is Kuma. What is your story?
Olau:It seems so long ago already. My father is a gold merchant in the city of Benin. Have you seen Benin?
Kuma:No, but I have heard of it. I have heard of the many fine streets and the beautiful palace of the king. I’ve also seen some of the wonderful cloth which is woven in Benin.
Olau:Oh yes. And they also make ivory and wooden sculptures, and pretty gold and copper jewellery.
Kuma nods
Olau:(sighing) Oh well, it was my fascination with all that which was my undoing. May father was dealing in the street of jewellers and I wandered away. I was so interested in watching all the craftsmen and artists at work that I wondered from street to street in spite of may father’s warnings that I should stay where he could see me.
Fola:What happened?
Olau:I was grabbed and pushed into a cart and a rag was stuffed into my mouth because I was screaming. When the cart was out of the city I was thrown to the ground. We had to walk for many weeks before we came to the sea – and the slave market (turns to Fola). How did you arrive in the slave market Fola?
Fola:We were asleep in the house I shared with my sister. May father was a chief in our village and we had several houses. The houses were in a group, with a fence around for safety – but it did not stop the raiders
(she stops for a moment, thinking about what had happened)
Fola:They set fire to the house to drive us out. My father and my brother tried to fight the men and save the old people and the babies at the same time, because my uncles were out in the bush with the herd (shakes her head). It was not possible, the men had sticks which shot fire, I saw my father falling and my sister and I were dragged away. We were added to the line of people they’d already captured, chained together and pushed along, some of the others were our neighbours. One or two became sick and they were left at the side of the road to die. I never saw the others again after we reached the market.
Kuma:Just think about it! Everyone on this ship and on every other slave ship could tell the same story.
Olau:You must have a story too, Kuma?
Kuma:(laughs) I can hardly remember it. I have been a slave for a long time.
Fola:Then why are you here?
Kuma:(points above his head towards the deck) My master is on the ship.
Olau:So why are you chained?
Kuma:I belong to Mr Kelsal. He is the chief mate on this ship. He put me in amongst these others to hide me from the captain.
Olau:(together) To hide you?
Kuma:(looking around and speaking quietly) What do you think will happen to all these sick people?
Olau and Fola shake their heads
Kuma:(making a throwing movement with his hands) Over the side!
Olau:Into the sea? (he whispers) When they die?
Kuma:Before they die! Some have gone already.
Fola:(gasps and puts her hand to her mouth) My sister?
Kuma:(nods) I think so. Mr Kelsal has hidden me down here because the captain wants to through me overboard.
Olau:But why?
Kuma:(opens his mouth and points to a gap where his front teeth should be) Look at this! Knocked out on the captain’s orders!
Fola:It would be very painful
Kuma:It was! They do it to anyone who refuses to eat. I wouldn’t eat at first and I fought and struggled because I knew what lay ahead at the end of the journey. I wanted to die. So the captain gave me to Mr Kelsal so that he could watch me. But now he wants to kill me to punish Mr Kelsal because he disagrees with the captain about throwing live (he stops and listens), shhh… lie down.
(Kuma buries his face in his arms and the others lie down and pretend to be asleep as the captain
and James Kelsal enter. The captain holds a handkerchief to his nose and carries a whip;)
Captain:Lord, how these creatures stink!
Kelsal:It’s to be expected, they have been locked up for days now.
Captain:(Laughing) Well, not for much longer my beauties, eh? (he kicks the foot of a sick slave) This one looks as if he could do with a bath .. and this one. (He stops and peers at Kuma, then points) Isn’t this one ….?
Kelsal:No, no, they all look alike …
(Captain moves on, touching slaves with the whip, saying ..’Thisone’..’This one’ … he stops at Fola and Olau. He kicks at their feet and they pretend to wake up.)
Captain:(to Kelsal) tell them to stand.
(Kelsal signals to them to rise and the captain prods at their arms and bodies with the whip)
Captain:These two seem to be healthy enough. We’ll keep them.
(He moves on, pointing to others on the floor)
Kelsal:Captain, before it is too late, Please wait until these people recover, or die from their sickness.
(Captain turns angrily on Kelsal)
Captain:You will obey orders! You will bring sailors down here and every piece of cargo that (pointing with his whip at slaves) I have chosen will be thrown into the sea. Do you hear?
Kelsal:Sir, we will be punished for this. These are human beings! I implore you!
Captain:(Sneers) do not be so tender-hearted, Chief Mate (kicks a foot) These are no more than damaged goods – damaged cargo! And you know as well as I do that if we must jettison cargo then we can claim the loss on the insurance. You know that we will not get a penny if we let them die (he sneers again) people!
Kelsal:I hope God will forgive us both for these terrible deeds, Sir. And I hope that this is the end of it. These poor souls will bring the total to one hundred and thirty living people thrown overboard from the Zong – drown this will not be forgotten … (they exit)
Kuma:One hundred and twenty people. He is forgetting about the ten men who threw themselves into the sea before they would wait to be murdered by these white devils!
Olau:You call them devils? I think too that they are devils. When I first saw them – their horrible white skin and their strange language – I was sure that I had landed amongst bad spirits!
Fola:I thought that we were to be eaten by these wild men!
Olau:I felt so sick that I did not want to eat, but when they beat me I knew that they were real enough! I have never seen such cruel men. They are worse than the wild animals in the bush!
Kuma:You will see worse cruelty when you arrive in the white man’s country.
Fola:What will happen to us?
Kuma:We are heading for an island called Barbados
Olau & Fola:(together) “Bar..ba..dos”?
Kuma:When the ship anchors, a lot of white people will come on board. We will be washed before they arrive – we might even have our skin rubbed with palm oil to make us look healthy – then the customers will come and inspect us like our fathers did when they bought sheep or goats. The when someone has chosen you they will burn their mark into your skin – so that you will not be able to run away. And when they have given you a new name they will take you away to their plantations to work – huh – to slave!
Olau:How do you know all this Kuma?
(Kuma shows a branding mark on his arm)
Kuma:Because I’ve been there before. I was a house slave. They called me Robert. Then my master and his wife took me back across the sea to a big city called London. I was there to help with their baggage and to look after their dog. Eliza, the girl that I was going to marry, was there too. She was the lady’s maid. When they decided to stay on in England for a while the easiest way to get rid of me was to sell me again. So here I am.
Fola:What happened to Eliza?
Kuma:They kept her with them… I shall never see her again
(Fola lays a hand on his arm in sympathy)
Olau:What exactly is a house slave?
Kuma:Like a servant in the house. It is better than being a field slave because the work in the fields is so long and hard, and the overseer beats you. Besides, there is usually more to eat in the house. It is also better if you children because they may have the chance to be house slaves too.
Olau:Children? You mean that children in these places are born to be slaves?
Kuma:(shrugs his shoulders) Does the sheep own her lamb? That is how it is. You are a slave now, you will always be a slave – and if your master allows you to have a wife then your children will be slaves too.
Fola:(her hands over her ears) I think that this is a bad dream, and that I will wake up in my house in Africa with my mother calling me to breakfast and my sister asleep beside me.
Kuma:(quietly) Never mind Fola, perhaps you will be lucky and get a good master.
What happens next?
The Auction, The Plantation, Life as a Slave