Researchers Will Study Sunken Remains From Last-Known U.S. Slave Ship

Researchers from the Alabama Historical Commission will be commencing a 10-day evaluation of the sunken remains of the last-known slave ship in the U.S., per CBS News. 

The Clotilda, which researchers have described as the most complete slave ship discovered, illegally dropped off 110 West Africans on the Alabama coast in 1860 via the Mobile River. Salvage company Resolve Marine will now recover artifacts from the sunken ship, shown in previous news coverage above, as the company also looks to see if a full recovery of the ship itself could be a possibility in the future. 

“It is a tremendous duty to ensure the Clotilda is evaluated and preserved,” project manager Aaron Jozsef said. 

The ship—which had its voyage financed by Alabama businessman Timothy Meaher—was discovered back in 2019, when researchers found that most the of the ship remained intact. Resolve Marine, alongside the state of Alabama and SEARCH Inc., is developing a plan to conserve the findings as it sees funding from a $1 million state appropriation.

Jozsef said the work “will add to the collective understanding of the vessel and the site’s potential to yield significant archaeological information about the ship and its final voyage.”

The ship itself is also the subject of a National Geographic program titled Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship, which is available to view on Disney+.