State Archaeologist Stacye Hathorn to discuss the Slave Ship Clotilda

Stacye Hathorn will be at Moon Lake Library August 5 at 6:30 p.m. to talk about the research methods used to identify the slave ship Clotilda and ongoing studies to preserve its underwater archaeological site.

State Archaeologist Stacye Hathorn

In 2019, a comprehensive assessment and a year of research by SEARCH, Inc., sponsored by the Alabama Historical Commission and the National Geographic Society, confirmed the identity of the Clotilda, a wooden-hulled sailing ship that brought 110 enslaved Africans from Benin to Mobile Bay in 1859. Initial locations of submerged 19th century shipwrecks in the Mobile Delta were made by Ben Raines and researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi. Subsequent details revealed by SEARCH’s study point to one of those being the Clotilda. These include confirmation of the schooner’s pre-1870 construction methods, unique size, dimensions, and building materials composed of locally sourced lumber and “pig iron” that are an exact match to the vessel’s specifications in historic ships’ registries.

Finding this wreckage has opened an important chapter in the history of international slave trade by making it tangible. More than 50 years after the United States government banned the importation of enslaved persons to this country, Timothy Meaher and Captain William Foster conspired to evade authorities and destroy evidence of their criminal voyage by scuttling and burning the vessel and dividing the kidnapped Africans among themselves. The former passengers remained in slavery until the end of the Civil War. After the war, a small group of Clotilda passengers reunited with hopes of returning to their homes. When that dream was not realized, they and their descendants established a community north of downtown Mobile. Today, this community is called Africatown, where the Heritage House Museum brings history alive by sharing stories about the 110 captives’ journey from Africa and exhibiting artifacts from the shipwreck.

Hathorn is the Alabama state archaeologist. She is the lead project manager of the investigation that identified the Clotilda and continues to assist in the ongoing efforts to preserve the shipwreck. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s from Auburn University, where she studied archaeology and sociolinguistics. She has more than 25 years of experience in historic preservation in Alabama and in early Christian Ireland. Her research interests include cultural persistence as revealed by material culture and native language. Daughter of a millwright and a homemaker, Hathorn grew up in Gadsden and currently resides in Tallassee.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Additional library parking is available at Moon Lake Village.