 Henry Dundas, then Lord Advocate, acted for Knight.In late November or early December 1781 the captain and crew of the English slave ship, "Zong", threw various African slaves into the sea off the island of Hispaniola, ostensibly to save the lives of the remaining slaves as provisions were short.The shipowners then sought to claim under policies of insurance, arguing that jettisoning the cargo constituted a recoverable loss, even though it necessarily resulted in the murder of the slaves.