SUNKEN SLAVE SHIP SHOWED A LONG-SUBMERGED PORTION OF FLORIDA

a man in a wet suit is holding a scuba tube
Diver and research supporter George Robb excavates the site of the Henrietta Maria, a slave ship that sank 35 miles off Key West in 1700. BRIAN BLANCO/Contributed

In the year 1700, the Henrietta Marie, a British slave ship, sank 35 miles off the coast of what is now Key West at New Ground Reef, near the Marquesa Keys. 

When it sank, the ship was carrying 191 enslaved people, plus the crew and trade goods. There were no survivors, and the wreck remained undiscovered for 270 years. It was found in 1972 by divers working for Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors Inc., who were in search of the treasure of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. (They would find the Atocha’s $400 million treasure 13 years later.) 

Corey Malcom, formerly the director of archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum and now the lead historian for the Florida Keys History Center at the Monroe County Library, led an expedition from 2001 to 2003 to find and recover parts of the Henrietta Marie, such as cannons, segments of the wooden hull and what amounted to thousands of artifacts, including the heartbreaking reality of bilboes, or shackles, used to bind the wrists and ankles of the human cargo. Malcom’s work uncovered not just the ship’s story, but also a new understanding of the submerged lands of Florida, revealing geological features that redefined the historical understanding of the state’s size and shape.

Speaking recently at the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Nature Center in Big Pine to an audience of history buffs, Malcom presented his team’s discoveries. He detailed the history of the Henrietta Marie, put in context the transatlantic slave trade and discussed the broader implications of the findings. 

“We kept finding these magnetic anomalies with our magnetometers — devices used to scour the ocean for magnetic disturbances to locate shipwrecks, plane crashes and geological features on the ocean floor,” Malcom explained. “We were so excited, saying to ourselves, ‘These are definitely remnants from the Henrietta Marie.’” 

What he and his team actually uncovered beneath layers of sand were wood fragments, tree stumps, pine cones and charred wood — evidence of long-ago forest fires in the area. These findings were surprising, as such materials seemed out of place so far from the coast. These items, Malcom explained, weren’t yet fossilized and the pine cones found still smelled like pine once they were taken back to the boat.  

The explanation: 8,500 years ago, Florida’s coastline extended much farther than previously believed. Through extensive research, Malcom concluded that over millennia, rising sea levels had inundated this ancient land, burying it under 50 feet of water and reshaping the coastline.

Following the presentation, attendees asked Malcolm about other shipwrecks his team had uncovered, the value of the commodities aboard the Henrietta Marie and the potential for evidence of human activity in the submerged area. 

“Our work at New Ground is no longer ongoing, so we are not trying to determine if there was ancient human activity there,” he said. “Someday, someone else might pick up where we left off, though.” 

While heading up the archaeology department at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, Malcom helped design a museum exhibit around the Henrietta Marie, its artifacts, shackles and the impacts of the transatlantic slave trade.

To honor the hardships endured by the enslaved people aboard the Henrietta Marie, the Association of Black Scuba Divers in 1992 installed a one-ton monument at the site of the wreck. Its inscription reads: “In memory and recognition of the courage, pain, and suffering of enslaved African people. ‘Speak her name and gently touch the souls of our ancestors.’”

Wyatt Samuelson
Wyatt Samuelson is brand new to the Key West community and is already in love with it. In his free time, you'll find him fishing, having drinks with a buddy, going to the gym or playing with his French bull dog, Penny Lane, or his cat ,Mustang. He's joined in Key West with his fiancee, and soon-to-be wife, Ashley, who is serving in the US Navy in Key West.