# Last known slave ship, the Clotilda, possibly found

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 23, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313 "2018-01-23T18:51:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313/1 "2018-01-23T18:51:22Z")

</div>

I heard of the ship the Clotilda only a month or so ago on “Finding Your Roots.” It’s the last known ship to bring slaves in to the US in 1860. Apparently there was a bet where someone said they could still bring in new slaves even though it was illegal and had been for 50+ years.

Seems the ship might have been found recently, burned and sunk near Mobile, AL. [Here’s the news article.](http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2018/01/alcom_reporter_may_have_found.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313/2 "2018-01-24T18:31:29Z")

</div>

What an amazing, sobering find, and what a detailed article. I’m only about a quarter of the way through, but thank you for posting it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313/3 "2018-01-24T20:21:13Z")

</div>

I found it interesting too. And since I had never heard of it until recently it was odd it came up being found. Those men knew what they were doing was wrong, so wrong they burned the damned ship.

I looked it up, and the Finding Your Roots show was about Questlove. I really like that show as well as they do a lot of ‘lost’ history.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313/4 "2018-01-25T23:04:05Z")

</div>

I heard this story just yesterday on NPR. I guess a reporter actually found it during an exceptionally low tide.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-known-slave-ship-the-clotilda-possibly-found/807313/5 "2018-01-26T00:19:59Z")

</div>

Check out _Dreams of Africa in Alabama_, by Sylviane Diouf, for the story of the African survivors’ lives. There’s also a forthcoming book, _Barracoon_, of Zora Neale Hurston’s interviews with the last of them, in 1931!