"last slave ship"
A01=Alexander DeCaro
A01=Deborah E. Marx
A01=James P. Delgado
A01=Joseph Grinnan
A01=Kyle Lent
Africa town
African American heritage
African American history
African American Studies
African Diaspora
Africatown
Alabama
Alabama Historical Commission
archaeology
archeology by braille
artifact burn analysis
Author_Alexander DeCaro
Author_Deborah E. Marx
Author_James P. Delgado
Author_Joseph Grinnan
Author_Kyle Lent
Barracoon
Benin
black history
burned ship
Captain William Foster
Category=NHK
Category=NHTM
Category=NHTS
Category=NK
Civil War
Clotilda
Clotilde
community archaeology
Diving With a Purpose
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
French maritime trade
Gulf schooners
heritage
historical archaeology
Juneteenth
King Cotton
maritime archaeology
maritime history
merchant ships
Mobile
Mobile Bay
Mobile River
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Register of Historic Places
nineteenth century
restorative justice archaaeology
schooners
ship graveyard
shipbuilding
shipwrecks
shipyards
slave ships
Slave Wrecks Project
slavery
southern history
trans-Atlantic slave trade
Twelvemile Island wreck
underwater archaeology
US history
Where is Africatown?
Where is Twelvemile Island?
Who was Cudjoe Lewis?
Who was Timothy Meaher?
Who were William and David Foster?
Zora Neale Hurston
Product details
- ISBN 9780817321512
- Weight: 612g
- Dimensions: 157 x 218mm
- Publication Date: 07 Mar 2023
- Publisher: The University of Alabama Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Documents the maritime historical research and archaeological fieldwork used to identify the wreck of the notorious schooner Clotilda
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship is the first definitive work to examine the maritime historical and archaeological record of one of the most infamous ships in American history. Clotilda was owned by Alabama businessman Timothy Meaher, who, on a dare, equipped it to carry captured Africans from what is now Benin and bring them to Alabama in 1860—some fifty years after the import of captives to be enslaved was banned. To hide the evidence, Clotilda was set afire and sunk.
What remained was a substantially intact, submerged, and partially buried shipwreck located in a backwater of the Mobile River. The site of the wreck was an open secret to some people who knew Meaher, but its identity remained unknown for more than a century as various surveys through the years failed to locate the ship.
This volume, authored by the archaeological team who conducted a comprehensive, systematic survey of a forgotten “ship graveyard,” details the exhaustive forensic work that conclusively identified the wreck, as well as the stories and secrets that have emerged from the partly burned hulk. James P. Delgado and his coauthors discuss the various searches for Clotilda, sharing the forensic data and other analyses showing how those involved concluded that this wreck was indeed Clotilda. Additionally, they offer physical evidence not previously shared that situates the schooner and its voyage in a larger context of the slave trade.
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship serves as a nautical biography of the ship as well. After reviewing the maritime trade in and out of Mobile Bay, this account places Clotilda within the larger landscape of American and Gulf of Mexico schooners and chronicles its career before being used as a slave ship. All of its voyages had a link to slavery, and one may have been another smuggling voyage in violation of federal law. The authors have also painstakingly reconstructed Clotilda’s likely appearance and characteristics.
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship is the first definitive work to examine the maritime historical and archaeological record of one of the most infamous ships in American history. Clotilda was owned by Alabama businessman Timothy Meaher, who, on a dare, equipped it to carry captured Africans from what is now Benin and bring them to Alabama in 1860—some fifty years after the import of captives to be enslaved was banned. To hide the evidence, Clotilda was set afire and sunk.
What remained was a substantially intact, submerged, and partially buried shipwreck located in a backwater of the Mobile River. The site of the wreck was an open secret to some people who knew Meaher, but its identity remained unknown for more than a century as various surveys through the years failed to locate the ship.
This volume, authored by the archaeological team who conducted a comprehensive, systematic survey of a forgotten “ship graveyard,” details the exhaustive forensic work that conclusively identified the wreck, as well as the stories and secrets that have emerged from the partly burned hulk. James P. Delgado and his coauthors discuss the various searches for Clotilda, sharing the forensic data and other analyses showing how those involved concluded that this wreck was indeed Clotilda. Additionally, they offer physical evidence not previously shared that situates the schooner and its voyage in a larger context of the slave trade.
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship serves as a nautical biography of the ship as well. After reviewing the maritime trade in and out of Mobile Bay, this account places Clotilda within the larger landscape of American and Gulf of Mexico schooners and chronicles its career before being used as a slave ship. All of its voyages had a link to slavery, and one may have been another smuggling voyage in violation of federal law. The authors have also painstakingly reconstructed Clotilda’s likely appearance and characteristics.
