Clotilda, the last known ship carrying captives for slavery, was found, researchers say: NPR

The Alabama Historical Commission said that a ship in ruins off the Gulf Coast is the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring people from Africa to the United States and to the United States. enslave.

At the Robert Hope Community Center in Mobile, Alaska on Wednesday, researchers unveiled their discovery to the descendants of this fateful journey. "They've been waiting for this for a long time," Walter Givhan, chairman of the Alabama History Commission, a retired major general, told NPR. "They were jubilant."

According to Givhan, the researchers based their evaluation on some historical information. "You knew certain things about this ship, you knew that it had certain characteristics of the story: how many masts, how long it was, what kind of wood it could have been made" said Givhan.

The researchers were also looking for a ship that had been burned and scuttled in the waters surrounding Mobile – evidence of the captain's attempts to prevent law enforcement from finding evidence of A crime.

From February to July 1860, the Clotilda transported 110 people from present-day Benin to the shores of Mobile, despite a US law of 1808 banning the importation of slaves.

The prisoners were among the last known Africans destined to live in captivity.

Captain William Foster and Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Alabama, allegedly made a bet that would have led to the trip.

After the Civil War, some Clotilda survivors formed a mobile community, known as Africatown.

The announcement of the vessel's identity comes one year after the new claim that the historic vessel had been discovered. AL.com reported that one staff member may have found traces of the ship. "I saw almost that big dinosaur spine coming out of the mud along the shoreline," Ben Raines told NPR at the time.

But the Alabama Historical Commission ruled out this possibility because of major differences between the two vessels. On the one hand, the wreckage found by Raines seemed not to have been damaged by fire.

The researchers said that the wreckage identified Wednesday showed traces of burns, corresponding to the archives.

"We are cautious when we place names on wrecks that no longer bear a name or something that looks like a doorbell bearing the name of the ship," said team leader, James Delgado, "but the evidence physical and medico-legal powerfully suggest that it's about Clotilda. "

The researchers said the findings had been independently reviewed and approved by the international authorities.

The commission said it was coordinating its activities with the governor's office, law enforcement and the conservation department to protect the site.

The work was done in collaboration with the Black Heritage Council, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and other organizations.

Lisa Demetropoulos Jones, executive director of the commission, said that "this trip was one of the darkest in modern history". "This new discovery highlights the tragedy of slavery and reflects the triumph and resilience of the human spirit," she added.