and in winter cold (a deterrent to the reptiles) and extensive sampling and documentation. By this spring, we had found a consistent number of features that matched Clotilda, including the dimensions, the wood used in its construction, pure iron blacksmithed fasteners, a centerboard, evidence of copper sheathing, evidence of a shipboard fire, and in particular, a location and depth that made sense with what Captain Foster had publicly said about scuttling his schooner. Detailed historical analysis also played a role. The 120-ton admeasurement of Clotilda reflected a hull “full-formed” and deep as noted in registration documents and the 1855 account of her launch. The wreck was also full formed, and by applying the old formulas, we came up with a close tie to 120 tons.
historic sketches of the south (knickerbocker press, 19140
Archaeologists Deborah Marx, Alexander DeCaro, and Kyle Lent measure a hull plank at the wreck site.
Archaeology of the more recent past often merges physical evidence with archival sources. We examined more than 1,500 original registries of schooners registered in the Gulf of Mexico from 1818 to 1893, including New Orleans and Mobile. Less than half were regionally or locally built; the others came from the Lakes or the Atlantic seaboard. Of the regionally built, we ultimately found that only eight were registered at greater than 100 tons, and only one—Clotilda, was what lies in the mud of the Mobile River. As scientists, we say in our report that this is likely Clotilda. After international peer review, colleagues agreed. News of the find reached a global audience and continues to attract attention. The next steps remain to be defined beyond protection and public consultation. As one of the team, I’m proud to have worked with and led an effort that focuses on not only the identity of a wreck, but also a profound human story with powerful implications and consequences that resonate today, 159 years later. One important legacy is Africatown, a community founded by the formerly enslaved people brought to Alabama in Clotilda. The Africatown community, the descendants of those resilient elders, remind us that history is neither remote nor disconnected. Maritime history is a story of linkages, connections, and consequences, and the story of the
Abaché (left) and Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis, two survivors of the illegal Clotilda slave run, in Africatown, ca. 1914. Clotilda is one that speaks to this, and the power of an artifact—in this case a wreck— to connect physically to that past and learn from it. Maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado, PhD, RPA, is Senior Vice President for SEARCH, Inc., and a frequent contributor to Sea History.
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Visit the NMHS website to access the New York Region Maritime Museum Guide
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