heading upstream along the Mobile River we move deeper and deeper into Alabama.

The river sprawls. It weaves through dense forests and marshlands.

When we first left the Gulf of Mexico we saw boats everywhere from foreign lands and fishing vessels from local waters.

But now we are beyond all that past the port towns.

Here it is quiet, calm, only the sound of nature. In the distance there is a crackling, the sound of flame,

and a smell of acrid smoke. Before we lay eyes on what is the strangest scene around the bend, a primal sight, a ship ablaze from bow to stern,

slowly sinking in the placid waters, a surreal juxtaposition of

peace and fury. It is no accident the ship burning, it is the destruction of evidence, evidence of clandestine trafficking

of human beings. And then. Nice to have you with us. This is American History Hit and I am Don Wildman.

In January 2018, just about This is American History Hit and I am Don Wildman.

In January 2018, just about six years ago as I speak today,

a remarkable and important discovery was made in the waters

a few miles north of Mobile, Alabama.

A shipwreck, one of a number of wooden vessels on the bottom in this particular stretch of the Mobile

Tensaw Delta.

It was, after some weeks of speculation, declared to be the long-sought wreck of the

schooner Clotilde, the last known slave ship in the United States, said to have sailed from Africa

landing in America in July 1860.

86 feet in length with a beam of 23 feet,

the schooner had been constructed for hauling lumber.

But on this voyage, originating from present-day Benin, the Clotilde

was here for another profit-making purpose entirely. A forbidden voyage to deliver captive

...