DISCOVER THE SECRET PATH TO A PIONEER PAST:
Saturday, November 1, 2003
Exhibit shows slave-trade relics, horrors
By AUDREY PARENTE
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
DAYTONA BEACH — Divers hunting for gold in murky ocean depths discovered something really priceless — the wreck of a 3-century-old merchant slave ship.
Artifacts from that wreck, along with an interactive presentation narrated by captain and crew, and a recreated cargo galley of slaves, are now on display at the Museum of Arts and Sciences.
Salvaged shackles, pewter, iron, glass beads and other trade goods are in the exhibit, “A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie,” which opened at the museum Thursday and continues through May 16, 2004.
The trade ship traveled a triangular trade route from London to West Africa to the Caribbean. It sank in 1700 after unloading 190 shackled Africans in Jamaica.
In 1972, the hull was discovered where it sank, 35 miles off Key West.
“It represents a historic legacy — part of our society. We cannot ignore how we came to be,” said Bill Murrain of Atlanta, president of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, who attended the exhibit’s opening Thursday night. “You cannot go through the exhibit seeing yourself as black or white. When you come out, you should see yourself as a member of the human race or you have missed the point.”
The wreck was discovered by famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher and the contents recovered by archaeologist-divers of the Mel Fisher Maritime Society.
Corey Malcom, director of archaeology for the society, was also at the opening.
“The ship sat dormant for quite a few years, but we decided we would like to see it have a public face and an exhibit developed, with this incredible story of the slave ship,” Malcom said. “I had done a lot of the conservation and cleaning of objects and, in 1991, did further field work at the (dive) site.”
Discovering slave history turned out to be much richer than finding gold, Malcom said.
“So many times, when we find objects, they don’t even look like they did originally. But when we uncovered the hull and got a sense of the size of that ship and imagined the number of people sitting in there, it really hit home to me,” he said. “It was a really moving experience.”
Murrain said he has not yet dived at the site but will this summer to see what remains beneath the sea. He has been visiting the exhibit at many museums as it has toured the country and plans to return to Daytona Beach in May with club members from Orlando and Jacksonville.
Did You Know?
From approximately 1600 to 1800, slaves were transported from Africa via the “Middle Passage” route. The Middle Passage was the middle leg of a journey that began and ended in Europe.
Ships carrying iron, cloth, brandy, firearms and gunpowder would depart Europe, stop in Africa — where the cargo would be exchanged for Africans — and then set sail again for America.
Once in America, the slaves were exchanged for goods such as sugar or tobacco before the ships returned to Europe.
Over the centuries, between one and two million persons died in the crossing.
Many slaves tried to commit suicide by refusing to eat. As the loss of these slaves represented a financial burden, they would often be force-fed with the assistance of a “speculum orum” — a mechanism designed to keep the mouth open.
SOURCE: www.pbs.org.
Compiled by Karen Duffy, news researcher.
