The Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) plans to leave the last known ship that transported enslaved Africans to the United States at its current location in the Mobile River because the ship is too damaged to be lifted out of the water.

The Clotilda transported 110 Africans from what is now Benin to Mobile, Alabama in 1860, more than 50 years after the United States banned the international slave trade.

The trip was organized by Mobile businessman Timothy Meaher, who bet that he could smuggle slaves into the country without being caught. After the ship arrived, the kidnappers set it on fire to destroy evidence of their crime.

The AHC, which has been involved in efforts to identify and conserve Clotilda since 1997, said it could not be lifted out of the water “using existing technology.”

“This phase of the investigation was critical in determining next steps for Clotilda. With this report, the Alabama Historical Commission can move forward with its preservation plan and continue to preserve this tremendous artifact and its history,” Alabama Historical Commission Chairman Eddie Griffith said in the announcement.

The survivors of the Clotilda founded Africatown, a community near Mobile where many of their descendants still live today. The wreck of the Clotilda remained hidden for over a century until it was discovered in 2019.

Since the ship’s discovery, there had been discussion about recovering the remains and exhibiting them, possibly in a museum.

The study found that Clotilda’s structural integrity has been severely compromised by natural and human activities over the past 164 years.

Investigators concluded that corrosion, physical damage and biological factors have caused significant structural damage to the remains of the Clotilda. The report recommends “in situ conservation,” meaning they will leave the wreck in place and cover the exposed sections with sediment to slow decay.

“The location of Clotilda in a shallow, medium to high energy brackish water environment, coupled with the observed biological and physical decomposition processes, poses an immediate threat to the long-term survival of the wreck,” the report said.

The report said the wreck was “extremely vulnerable to physical damage from collisions with ships, impacts with floating objects, and damage from vandalism or severe weather events.”

“In such incidents, there is a possibility of partial or total loss of the remaining hull,” the report says. “Stabilization of the wreck, physical protection through reburial and securing are urgently required.”

“Crime Scene”

Jeremy Ellis, president of the Clotilda Descendants Association, said in a statement that they looked forward to learning more about Clotilda’s perseverance, its history and the impact on the survivors’ ancestors, but added that “Clotilda is a crime scene and should be treated as such.”

“Until there is justice and accountability for this crime, any narrative or conversation about Clotilda and the location of Clotilda should revolve around the 110 survivors aboard Clotilda and the crime that was committed,” Ellis said, adding: “Conversations that focus on the salvage of the ship distract from the 110 survivors aboard Clotilda and the horrific crime that was committed.”

In the statement, the AHC stated that while the ship’s “structural integrity” may be significantly compromised, its “archaeological integrity” is still intact.

“Archaeological integrity means that the ship can still tell its story with careful scientific examination. Structural integrity means that the structure of the ship remains stable and intact,” state archaeologist Stacye Hathorn said in the AHC statement.

Ellis said they “look forward to learning more about Clotilda’s perseverance and the Clotilda’s final voyage and its impact on our ancestors” and hope to work with organizations involved in the Clotilda wreck investigation to create a memorial to commemorate the ancestors in Africatown and throughout Alabama.

“We also look forward to working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Mobile District (USACE) and the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) on a memorial that honors the lives of the 110 people aboard the Clotilda and at her current location,” said Ellis.