Study Suggests Much of the Last-Known Slave Ship Survives

MOBILE, ALABAMA—According to a report by the Associated Press, a sonar study shows that at least two-thirds of the Clotilda remains intact in the sediments of the Mobile River. The 90-foot, two-masted wooden schooner carried enslaved people from Africa to Alabama before it was scuttled in 1860, in an attempt to destroy evidence, since the slave trade had been outlawed in the United States in 1808. Maritime archaeologist James Delgado said that the cargo section below deck, where people were held without light or ventilation during the voyage, has survived. “It’s the most intact [slave ship] wreck ever discovered,” he said. “It’s because it’s sitting in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with fresh water and in mud that protected it that it’s still there.” Further research could show what the hull contains, he added. For more on the wreck, go to "The Case for Clotilda."