Save the Clotilda

The Last Slave Ship

A little known clause in Article I of the US Constitution prevented the importation of slaves after 1807. In spite of this, smugglers continued to bring enslaved Africans to the Southern States up to the Civil War. The last of the ships used in this illicit slave trade was the Clotilda which arrived in Mobile Alabama in 1860 with a cargo of west African slaves. The wreck of this ship has recently been discovered. It is a stark reminder of the horrors of human bondage.

The Clotilda was an 86-foot two-masted schooner built and owned by Timothy Maeher of Mobile. Maeher sailed the ship to Africa in 1860 to take advantage of intertribal warfare that had left thousands of Africans imprisoned. Maeher bought 125 of them for $100 each. (In the South his cargo would have been worth nearly 4 Million Dollars in today’s money.) Fearing capture, he departed port quickly, leaving 15 behind.

Maeher went to great lengths during the voyage to avoid scrutiny by authorities. Upon reaching the US coast he re-rigged the Clotilda to make it look like a coastal vessel transporting legal southern slaves. He snuck into Mobile and had the ship towed up a river. There, he unloaded his human cargo. Then he burned and sank the ship to destroy the evidence. The crew, some of them apparently Northerners, was discharged and sent home.

The Africans, being undocumented property, were sold into slavery under Black Market conditions. Learning of the situation, US authorities took the the smugglers to court. Thanks to the cover-up and the Civil War, the perpetrators would not be prosecuted for their dastardly deed.

After the War, when all slaves were emancipated, the Clotilda passengers received their freedom. Many settled in a place called Africatown, which is now an impoverished Mobile suburb. There, they preserved their African heritage, language and traditions for many decades. They had all been young when enslaved. Many lived well into the 20th Century. The last survivor is said to have died in 1940.

The wreck of the Clotilda was discovered in 2018. Though it was burned to the waterline, the hull remains intact. It is no doubt full of artifacts, like chains and locks, stemming from its time in the slave trade. Legally, it belongs to the State of Alabama. There is talk of raising and preserving the ship. Thus far, Alabama is balking at the cost. Instead, the state has proposed putting a monument at the site of its sinking. This is unacceptable to the descendants of the ships enslaved cargo as the site is largely inaccessible.

Alabama, do the right thing!

LDT Feb 20, ’22

For more information see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotilda_(slave_ship)

https://time.com/6148417/clotilda-preserve-americas-last-slave-ship/