Wreck found by reporter may be last American slave ship, archaeologists say

[bluedigger]

Relying on historical records and accounts from old timers, AL.com may have located the long-lost wreck of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to bring human cargo to the United States.

What's left of the ship lies partially buried in mud alongside an island in the lower Mobile-Tensaw Delta, a few miles north of the city of Mobile. The hull is tipped to the port side, which appears almost completely buried in mud. The entire length of the starboard side, however, is almost fully exposed. The wreck, which is normally underwater, was exposed during extreme low tides brought on by the same weather system that brought the "Bomb Cyclone" to the Eastern Seaboard. Low tide around Mobile was about two and a half feet below normal thanks to north winds that blew for days.

"I'm quaking with excitement. This would be a story of world historical significance, if this is the Clotilda," said John Sledge, a senior historian with Mobile Historical Commission, and author of The Mobile River, an exhaustive history of the river. "It's certainly in the right vicinity... We always knew it should be right around there."

This reporter, Ben Raines, used the abnormally low tides to search for the ship after researching possible locations. The remote spot where the ship was found, deep in the swampy Mobile-Tensaw Delta, is accessible only by boat. During my first trips after discovering the wreck, I documented it with photographs and aerials shot with a drone. Over the next week, I ferried a shipwright expert in the construction techniques used on old wooden vessels and a team of archaeologists from the University of West Florida to the site.

http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2018/01/alcom_reporter_may_have_found.html

A very significant find, if confirmed. Much more evidence in the article. I think they found it.

[femmocrat]

1. K & R

Fascinating article. Thanks for posting.

[CatMor]

2. Great article.....

does sound like they found the Clotilda. Hard to believe something like that happened and they got away with it.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. WaPo: The last U.S. slave ship was burned to hide its horrors. A storm may have unearthed it.

The last U.S. slave ship was burned to hide its horrors. A storm may have unearthed it.

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. January 24 at 10:24 AM

In the summer of 1860, half a century after the United States banned the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Capt. William Foster sneaked 110 African slaves into Mobile, Ala. — and knew that the floating evidence of the illegal deed could get him killed.

The trip was more part of an obscene bet than any sort of profit-making scheme, but the Clotilda, the ship that made the months-long journey, held the telltale signs that it was an illegal slaver: containers for water and food, and the lingering stench of urine and feces and vomit and blood. ... If caught, Foster and his crew could be imprisoned or executed, so they found a remote section of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and torched the ship, igniting a mystery that would endure for a century and a half.

What happened to the Clotilda, the last ship to bring slaves to the United States? ... Ben Raines, a reporter for the Birmingham News and a part-time nature guide, believes he has unearthed the answer — and the remains of the Clotilda, partly buried in 10 feet of river mud.

Link to tweet

It was part investigative journalism and part luck: The shipwreck is normally underwater, but was exposed by abnormally low tides caused by the same weather system that brought the “bomb cyclone” to the East Coast.
....

Cleve Wootson is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post. Follow @CleveWootson

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Interesting connection, from "Finding Your Roots" ...

http://time.com/5057004/questlove-finding-roots-last-slave-ship/

[Judi Lynn]

5. Alabama Reporter Finds Last Known Slave Ship in US

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | January 25, 2018 06:43am ET

More than 150 years ago, a wealthy man made a heinous bet, boasting he could sneak a ship filled with African slaves into the United States, even though it was illegal to import slaves into the country at that time. After some stealthy maneuvering, the man won the bet and later burned the ship to hide the evidence.

The location of the vessel called the Clotilda — the last ship known to carry slaves into the United States — has long evaded historians. But just recently, Ben Raines, a reporter at the Alabama news site AL.com,discovered a burnt, 19th-century wreck near Mobile, Alabama, that has archaeologists wondering whether the Clotilda's remains have finally been located.

The design of the charred wreckage matches that of a ship built between 1850 and 1880, and the location of the boat is spot-on, maritime experts told Live Science. [See photos of the burned slave ship's remains]

MORE
Alabama Reporter Finds Last Known Slave Ship in US
This bird's-eye view shows the current state of the possible slave ship, which is 124 feet (38 meters) long.
Credit: Ben Raines/[e-mail]
More than 150 years ago, a wealthy man made a heinous bet, boasting he could sneak a ship filled with African slaves into the United States, even though it was illegal to import slaves into the country at that time. After some stealthy maneuvering, the man won the bet and later burned the ship to hide the evidence.

The location of the vessel called the Clotilda — the last ship known to carry slaves into the United States — has long evaded historians. But just recently, Ben Raines, a reporter at the Alabama news site AL.com,discovered a burnt, 19th-century wreck near Mobile, Alabama, that has archaeologists wondering whether the Clotilda's remains have finally been located.

The design of the charred wreckage matches that of a ship built between 1850 and 1880, and the location of the boat is spot-on, maritime experts told Live Science. [See photos of the burned slave ship's remains]

However, the identity of the newfound wreck remains unknown, at least for now. Archaeologists still need to secure permits so they can excavate and study parts of the ship and the artifacts within it; this will likely help the researchers determine whether the ship is, in fact, the Clotilda.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/61524-slave-shipwreck-found.html