Possible Discovery of the Last Slave Ship?

[Brainster]

I was absolutely fascinated by this article about the discovery (or re-discovery) of the last ship ever to bring slaves to the United States. As most of you probably know, while slavery was legal until the emancipation proclamation, importing new slaves was banned much earlier, in 1809. This ship was apparently part of a notorious attempt to flout the law in 1860:

With the nation edging closer to civil war over the slavery issue, Alabama steamboat captain and plantation owner Timothy Meaher made an infamous bet that he could sneak slaves into the country, right under the noses of federal troops at the twin forts that guarded the mouth of Mobile Bay. Historian Sylvianne Diouf traced the evolution of the wicked scheme and the resulting journey in her excellent book, Dreams of Africa in Alabama, published in 2007. Attempts to contact Diouf were unsuccessful.

It's a terrific read about some excellent investigative journalism.

 

[Dabop]

Fascinating read, and to show the mix and match of measuring systems causing issues (from another thread), it was funny how they had actually known about this wreck for many years, but discounted it because it was too long compared to the ships records- then when they checked, they measured the length differently back then- rather than tip to tip as is common these days, they measured waterline to waterline- which gave a much better idea of the cargo carrying capacity, but fooled future searchers into believing it was much smaller than it was

 

[theprestige]

The Emancipation Proclamation didn't make slavery illegal. The OP is a farce.

 

[bruto]

The Emancipation Proclamation didn't make slavery illegal. The OP is a farce.

"Farce" seems a bit strong for what is really only a partial error, and one made by many. Although it did not apply to the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation certainly did make slavery illegal in the Confederacy, if one presumes that the rebellion was illegal and Union and its laws legitimate.

It is also true, of course, that the Emancipation Proclamation had not occurred when this ship is said to have gone down, but it's an interesting story anyway.