In 1860, a wealthy Alabama landowner came up with a scheme to smuggle African slaves into the United States on a schooner named Clotilda. Importing slaves had been illegal since 1808, and prices in the domestic slave trade were high. After a six-week journey, the ship delivered 110 captives to Mobile Bay, then was burned to the waterline to hide the crime. The recent discovery of the boat’s remains will not only validate the story—which some claim never occurred—it will also provide key details about the history of Africatown, where many of the slaves settled once they were freed.
