The ''Henrietta Marie'' was a

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

that carried captive Africans to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, where they were sold as

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

s. The ship wrecked at the southern tip of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

on its way home to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and is one of only a few wrecks of slave ships that have been identified.

History

The ''Henrietta Marie'' carried a crew of about eighteen men. It was probably built in France sometime in the 17th century. The ship came into English possession late in the 17th century, possibly as a

war prize A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...

during the

War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

. It was put to use in the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

, making at least two voyages carrying Africans to slavery in the West Indies. On its first voyage, in 1697-1698, the ship carried more than 200 people from Africa that were sold as slaves in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. In 1699 the ''Henrietta Marie'' sailed from England on the first leg of the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...

route with a load of trade goods, including iron and copper bars, pewter utensils, glass beads, cloth and brandy. The ship sailed under license from the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trade, trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal House of Stuart, Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the West Africa, west coast of Africa. It was led by the J ...

(which held a monopoly on English trade with Africa), in exchange for ten percent of the profits of the voyage. It is known to have traded for African captives at

New Calabar The Kalabari Kingdom, also called Elem Kalabari ( Kalabari: ''New Shipping Port''), is the independent traditional state of the Kalabari people, an Ijaw ethnic group, in the Niger River Delta. It is recognized as a traditional state in what is n ...

on the Guinea Coast. The ship then sailed on the second leg of its voyage, from Africa to the West Indies, and in May 1700 landed 191 Africans for sale in

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. The ''Henrietta Marie'' then loaded a cargo of sugar, cotton,

dyewoods A dyewood is any of a number of varieties of wood which provide dyes for textiles and other purposes. Among the more important are: * Brazilwood or Brazil from Brazil, producing a red dye. *Catechu or cutch from Acacia wood, producing a dark brow ...

and ginger to take back to England on the third leg of the triangular route. After leaving Port Royal the ship headed for the

Yucatán Channel The Yucatán Channel or Straits of Yucatán (Spanish: ''Canal de Yucatán'') is a strait between Mexico and Cuba. It connects the Yucatán Basin of the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico. It is just over wide and nearly deep at its deepest ...

to pass around the western end of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

(thus avoiding the pirates infesting the passage between Cuba and

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

) and catch the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...

, the preferred route for all ships leaving the Caribbean to return to Europe. The ''Henrietta Marie'' wrecked on New Ground Reef near the

Marquesas Keys The Marquesas Keys form an uninhabited island group about west of Key West, in diameter, and largely covered by mangrove forest. They are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. ...

, approximately west of

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

. There were no survivors, and the fate of the ship remained unknown for almost three centuries.

Discovery and salvage

The wreck was found in 1972 during a

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...

survey by a boat operated by a subsidiary of

Mel Fisher Mel Fisher (August 21, 1922 – December 19, 1998) was an American treasure hunter best known for finding the 1622 wreck of the ''Nuestra Señora de Atocha'' in Florida waters. Personal life Fisher was an Indiana-born former chicken farmer who ...

's Treasure Salvors, Inc. (Fisher's company was searching for the ''

Nuestra Señora de Atocha ''Nuestra Señora de Atocha'' ( es, Our Lady of Atocha) was a Spanish treasure galleon and the most widely known vessel of a fleet of ships that sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622. At the time of her sinking, ''Nuestra Señora de ...

'' and other ships of the 1622

Spanish treasure fleet The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...

that had wrecked along the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

in a hurricane.) Two anchors and a cannon were found on the first visit. The wreck was visited again in 1973. Some artifacts were collected from the wreck, including

bilboes Bilboes (always plural) are iron restraints normally placed on a person's ankles. They have commonly been used as leg shackles to restrain prisoners for different purposes until the modern ages. Bilboes were also used on slave ships, such as the ...

, iron shackles that were used to restrain slaves. When they realized that the wreck was likely a slave ship, not a treasure ship, the company reburied the artifacts and pieces of the ship's hull that they had exposed and left the site. In 1983 through 1985 Henry Taylor, sub-contracting with Mel Fisher's company, excavated the wreck (known as the ''English wreck'') with the assistance of

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

David Moore. The wreck was identified when a bronze

ship's bell A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it. Strikes Timing of s ...

carrying the inscription ''The Henrietta Marie 1699'' was found at the wreck site. Survey and excavation of the wreck site has continued at intervals. The ''Henrietta Marie'' wreck has yielded more than 7000 objects (and more than 30,000 glass beads), the largest collection of artifacts known from a slave ship. They have contributed greatly to our understanding of slave ships and the slave trade. Parts making up more than 80 bilboes have been found at the wreck site. As bilboes were typically used to shackle pairs of slaves together, the ones found at the wreck site could have restrained more than 160 slaves. Other items found at the wreck site include trade goods apparently left over from trading for captives in Africa, goods acquired in Africa in addition to captives (including an elephant tusk), and gear belonging to the ship and crew. Part of the hull of the ship, including much of the keel and part of the stern post, have survived, and have been measured and reburied at the site. Two copper cauldrons found at the wreck site shed light on the diet of the crew and slaves on a voyage. Malcom argues that the cauldrons were used to prepare separate meals for the crew and the slaves. One cauldron had a single chamber in capacity. This vessel was probably used to prepare a sort of mush or gruel for the slaves. As there were no slaves on the ship at the time it wrecked, the cauldron had been used to store chain. The second cauldron was smaller and had two chambers. One chamber had a capacity of , and the second a capacity of . This vessel could have been used to cook a two-course meal for the crew.

Legacy

In May 1993, the National Association of Black

Scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

Divers placed a memorial plaque on the site of the ''Henrietta Marie''. The plaque faces the African shore thousands of miles away, and has the name of the slave ship and reads, “In memory and recognition of the courage, pain and suffering of enslaved African people. Speak her name and gently touch the souls of our ancestors." Dr. Colin Palmer stated, "the story ends in 1700 for this particular ship, but the story of what the ship represented continues today," he says. "The importance of the ''Henrietta Marie'' is that she is an essential part of recovering the black experience - symbolically, metaphorically and in reality". A 1995 documentary, ''Slave Ship: The Testimony of the Henrietta Marie'', was narrated by

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and ...

. The vessel was also featured on the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

's ''

Deep Sea Detectives ''Deep Sea Detectives'' is a television show on The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E ...

''. An exhibition, "A Slave Ship Speaks: the Wreck of the ''Henrietta Marie''", was created by the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in 1995, and toured museums around the United States for more than a decade. A new exhibition, including a great number of artifacts from the ''Henrietta Marie'' will be touring North America, starting in 2019. The name of the exhibition is ''Spirits of the Passage''

The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum has also launched the Florida Slave Trade Center. A database and online exhibition featuring all of the artifacts from this ship wreck and a descriptive online exhibition and including other artifacts and documents from the museum's slave trade collection

Notes

References

* Cottman, Michael H. (1999) "The Ghosts of the ''Henrietta Marie''". ''Washington Post'', Sunday, February 7, 1999. Found a

* Cottman, Michael H. (2001) "The Slave Ship ''Henrietta Marie''". In Brian Lamb, ed. ''Booknotes: Stories from American History''. Public Affairs. Found a
Google Books
* Konstam, Angus. (1999) ''The History of Shipwrecks.'' The Lyons Press. Found a
Google Books
* Malcom, Corey. (2004) "In Search of the Slave Ship ''Henrietta Marie''." ''Sounding Line'', newsletter of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Summer/Spring 2004. Found a

* Malcom, Corey. (Merchant ship) "The ''Henrietta Marie'' an English merchant slave ship]. A

* Malcom, Corey. (Bilboes) "The Iron Bilboes of the ''Henrietta Marie''". A

* Malcom, Corey. (Trade goods) "Trade Goods on the ''Henrietta Marie'' and the Price of Men in 1699-1700". A

* Malcom, Corey. (Cauldrons) "The Copper Cauldrons Aboard the ''Henrietta Marie''". A

* Malcom, Corey. (Artifacts) "A Collection of Artifacts Recovered from the Shipwreck ''Henrietta Marie'', 2002". A

* Malcom, Corey. (Hull) "A Re-examination of the Hull of the ''Henrietta Marie''". A

*Sullivan, George. (1994) ''Slave Ship: The Story of the Henrietta Marie''. Dutton Books.

External links