Archaeologists and divers from across continents believe they have struck history gold, confirming the discovery of a sunken slave ship. The Sao Jose-Paquete de Africa, a Portuguese slave ship, sank off Cape Town on its way from Mozambique to Brazil in 1794, while carrying more than 500 slaves. The ship's crew and almost half of those enslaved drowned in the violent waves. It is believed that the surviving slaves were resold in the Western Cape. So far, only a few remnants have been retrieved from the wreck site, a turbulent spot located between two reefs. The Slave Wrecks Project, founded in 2008, uncovered shackles, an iron ballast which helped weigh down a ship that carrying human cargo and a wooden pulley block. Iziko Museums of South Africa are expected to formally announce the breakthrough in Cape Town on Monday. "The Sao Jose slave shipwreck site reverberates with historical significance and represents an addition to our underwater heritage that has the potential to advance knowledge and understanding of slavery, not only at the Cape but on a global level," said Rooksana Omar, CEO of Iziko Museums, in a statement. "The Sao Jose is all the more significant because it represents one of the earliest attempts to bring East Africans into the trans-Atlantic slave trade -- a shift that played a major role in prolonging that tragic trade for decades," said Lonnie Bunch, Founding Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in a statement. But it's seen to be more than just the unearthing of parts -- a memorial service took place Monday June 1 to commemorate the ship's victims. Soil from Mozambique Island -- the site from where the Sao Jose embarked on its fateful journey -- was also deposited by a team of divers from Mozambique, South Africa and the United States on the wreck site. Treasure hunters were the first to expose the ship, but they inaccurately recorded it as a Dutch vessel. Between 2010 and 2011, Iziko Museum archaeologist Jaco Boshoff discovered an account of the wreck lodged by the captain of the ship, which rekindled interest in the site. From investigations beginning last year, a document was also found which noted the sale of a slave by a local sheikh to the captain prior to its departure. The search continues to find further relics, as well as the descendents of those who were on board. "What I'm really hoping for, and we're still trying to make sure that we've got, is a piece of wood from the hull of the ship where the enslaved people were held," said Bunch to the Smithsonian magazine. An exhibition entitled "Slavery and Freedom" will open at the African American History and Culture Museum in the fall of 2016, with the findings on loan to the museum for 10 years.
It was assumed that most of the 12,000,000 slaves sold to the Americas came from West Africa. The discovery of this slave ship off the South African coast proves that Slaves from East Africa were shipped across the Atlantic. It will be hard to determine the numbers. Question though is much as the barbarity of the past [as it is uncovered] is condemned, what progress has been made in terms of people of all hues being treated as equals? Maybe we still haven't learned anything from the past.
I wonder what people will say in let's say 200 years when they discovered that we killed ourselves for profit or will story will tell another thing? Slavery was something horrendous and I am really glad that it's something we can mostly revisit today in museums.
While I think it fascinating that they have made a discovery such as this, I'm not sure if it shouldn't just be left to be honest. The slave trade is certainly a part of history that nobody wants to see being repeated, and when you uncover things like this, I think it's probably more respectful to leave it there.
I also think it's time all this obsession with slave trade and slavery was forgotten. The past can't be changed. It's gone forever. What most people seem to forget is that virtually every race has been enslaved in the past. With each conquest in the old times, those who lost the war were enslaved and exiled never to return home. Maybe we could all learn a thing or two from them. Adapt and be part of the nation. Whining, race baiting, etc all that stuff merely serve to hinder progress.
Reminds me of spooky tales of islands and reefs haunted by ghosts of souls on ill-fated ship wrecks...sometimes I think its all false stories, yet other times it sounds so real...my, how those slaves felt, dying under such circumstances...just sad.
Yeah. Trying to picture them chained up as the water engulfed them promising them the freedom they had lost. Survival instincts demand that you swim or die but chained up, did they scream, calling on the ships crew release them or did they face death bravely, quietly knowing that there was no escape? Tragic. But it was the age of cruelty . . .
Agreed. We are obsessive about such things because it is politically correct to feel guilty and submissive. My contention is that slavery is not over. It has only changed it's face. I recently overheard a supermarket manager shouting from his open office at a young lady, one of his employees. He warned her that she should not use her lunch break to look for another job. He said he gave her a bad reference. The lady in question is a single mom. She is tied to her unhappy job as securely as with chains, not just by her terrible boss, but by her circumstances of poor education and motherhood with no support. Even if she changes jobs she will never be free. In the days of slavery the boss was supposed to care for his slave in every respect, including food and clothing. Not that every boss did so, but today no boss is expected to cater for his economic slaves beyond the workplace. Modern slavery has limited liability. Today we have more people living out their lives in quiet misery, in far greater numbers than at the height of the slave trade. But we prefer to think everyone is free, even though our eyes clearly tell us otherwise. We know the underclass is growing and the middle class is disappearing. This eventually will leave only the super-rich and masses of slaves - call them workers if you like but this will not free those tied up in economic chains. Slavery is not over, and as before, all races are involved and affected.
Now was the finding of the ship based on history finders or treasure seekers? Seems like the museums may have paid for the wreckage and artifacts. We don't know. But I don't see the importance of the findings. It's history, I get it. But I think there are more pressing matters in the world then to dig up a sunken boat.
I agree. Discovering the wreck of a 19th century slave ship won't change the course of history. We should only be interested in the past if we truly are willing and ready to learn something from it. But so far, considering that the human race keeps making the same mistakes over and over is proof that we learn nothing from the past and should let just let it [the past] be.
