They found the wreck of the last ship smuggling slaves to the US

The wreck of the sailing ship “Clotilda”, which is said to have been the last ship to smuggle slaves from Africa to the US, has been found in the waters of the Mobile River, which flows through the US state of Alabama.

Despite the introduction of a law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States of America, which came into force on 1 January 1808, this practice was not abandoned and for many years further shipments of deprived women, men and children arrived from Africa.

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“Clotilda” was one of the vessels that regularly sailed between continents, delivering successive shipments of black slaves. The law, although inept at first, worked more and more effectively over the years and the penalties for human trafficking were increasingly severe.

It was the criminalisation and prosecution by the legal authorities that sealed the fate of the ship, which was sunk by its crew, who wanted to hide the traces of the actual ‘cargo’ below deck.

[blockquote style=”2″]”The discovery of the Clotilda is a remarkable archaeological find. It represents one of the darkest eras of modern history, and its wreckage now provides us with tangible evidence on the issue of slavery,” – said Lisa Demetropoulos Jones, executive director of the Alabama Historical Commission. [/blockquote]

The wreck was discovered by Search Inc, an archaeological company that was called in to help by the Alabama Historical Commission. Scientists discovered the ship in the waters of the Mobile River, and the dimensions and design of the wreck matched those of the ‘Clotilda’, as did the materials used in construction.

[blockquote style=”2″]”We are very cautious about naming shipwrecks that don’t already have a name or something like a ship’s bell with the name of the ship, but the physical and forensic evidence suggests it is the Clotilda,” said archaeologist James Delgado. [/blockquote]

It is perhaps the best documented history of slave travel in the western hemisphere. All thanks to the testimony of slave traders and the slaves themselves, some of whom were still alive in the 20th century. Some descendants of the people brought on the ship still live nearby, in a place known as Africatown.

Source: nationalgeographic.com, nypost.com