| Key
West Underwater
Date:
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com
Key
West, Florida — Eleven-year-old Kwadjo
Tillman emerged slowly from the ocean floor, his thick
dreadlocks soaking wet, dripping, and hanging over his
face.
The
rookie scuba diver from Nashville, Tennessee had just
spent 20 minutes beneath the Gulf of Mexico exploring
the site of a sunken slave ship and paused to offer
a quiet reflection after climbing back aboard the Sea
Eagle.
"This
dive is not like the others," Tillman said last
week as he peeled off his wet suit. "This dive
gives me something to think about."
Tillman
was one of 10 young people from Tennessee and Ohio who
made history by taking a 40-mile boat ride from Key
West to New Ground Reef to dive the wreck of the Henrietta
Marie, a 17th Century slave ship that sank 300 years
ago.
Archeologists
now believe the Henrietta Marie has yielded more than
22,000 artifacts, the largest collection of tangible
objects representing the early African slave trade.
.....................................................................................................................
See
Key West underwater photos (Underwater
Photos by: Eric Hanauer ) -
pic1,
pic2,
pic3,
pic4
Last
week, the youngest certified scuba divers to explore
the slave-ship wreck, strapped on air tanks, stepped
off the dive boat, and descended 25 feet into history.
"I
thought about the past," said Chris Cannon, 16,
from Nashville. "How they were packed into slave
ships like sardines; how they were helpless in chains.
It wasn’t fair. And I realized how they sacrificed
their lives. When you close your eyes, it touches your
heart."
"This
was a spirit dive," said Marcus Johnson, 16, from
Nashville. "We feel it. And we need to be thankful."
Underwater,
where buried planks of wood from 1700 still hold painful
reminders of the African slave trade, Johnson had more
questions than answers.
"I
asked myself would I have been strong enough to deal
with slavery? he said. "I don’t know."
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The
highlight of their experience, the young divers told
BlackAmericaWeb.com, was reading the inscription on
the one-ton monument that was placed near the wreck
in 1993 by members of The National Association of Black
Scuba Divers, (NABS) which included this writer. (www.nabsdivers.org).
The
monument was placed facing east toward Africa to pay
homage to generations of African people who died in
the lower decks of the Henrietta Marie, to those who
perished on other slave ships during the Middle Passage,
and to others who drowned in the sea.
One
of the divers who positioned the monument underwater
was Dr. Jose Jones, an internationally renown marine
biologist, co-founder of NABS, and a pioneer in the
diving industry. Last week, Tillman, and other young
divers who ranged from 11 to 19 years of age, helped
Jones scrape marine growth off the plaque and clean
the lettering.
"Henrietta
Marie: In memory and recognition of the courage, pain
and suffering of enslaved African people," the
inscription on the monument reads. "Speak her name
and gently touch the souls of our ancestors."
Tillman
said the memorial moved him to rest on his knees.
"I
said a prayer in front of the monument," said Tillman,
who became the youngest certified scuba diver to dive
the Henrietta Marie site since it was discovered in
1972. "I hope they come to peace with their death.
I’m glad I was there. It was a good spiritual
experience."
Enslaved
Africans did not actually die aboard the Henrietta Marie
when it sank during a storm in 1700. They were off-loaded
and sold on auctions blocks in Jamaica weeks earlier.
In fact, of the 190 African people aboard the Henrietta
Marie, there were 90 men, 60 women, 30 boys and 10 girls.
According to historians, many Africans died aboard the
Henrietta Marie or perished deep in the Atlantic during
the ship’s sailing years.
Thirty-three
years ago, divers recovered 80 pair of iron shackles
from the site, including tiny shackles -- weighing about
one pound each – that were designed for children.
"I
had a lot of feelings underwater," said Sabrina
Williams, 19, from Nashville. "[The monument] made
me think about my ancestors and about slavery."
The
10-hour pilgrimage to New Ground Reef was sponsored
by Ken Stewart, co-founder of the Tennessee Aquatic
Project, (TAP) a Nashville-based, non-profit community
program that offers scuba diving instruction, but also
focuses heavily on education, discipline, self-esteem
and black history.
Stewart
said he planned last week’s trip to coincide with
the commemoration of the annual "Juneteenth"
celebration – when on June 19th, 1865, Union Soldiers
arrived in Galveston, Texas spreading the message that
the slaves were free. Though it marked a turning point,
the news came more than two years after the Emancipation
Proclamation.
Only
students who are excelling in their school work were
allowed to make the trip to Key West.
Stewart
co-founded TAP 12 years ago, he said, because many black
young people do not have opportunities to learn about
marine science and underwater archeology.
A
longtime NABS member, Stewart pointed out that the weather
forecast for last week’s journey called for heavy
rains and choppy seas. Hours before the scheduled dive,
Stewart considered postponing the trip, fearing for
the safety of the young people.
But
heading out to sea over white-capped waves and rain,
dark clouds gave way to sunshine, and the strong currents
that churned under the boat, suddenly subsided.
"The
ancestors were waiting for our children," Stewart
said. "This dive was in God’s hands."
Stewart
said each of the TAP members are strong swimmers and
lifeguards, and are also taught to respect others and
always have steadfast faith. Most of Stewart’s
young people are either in college, on their way to
college, or preparing for college.
"We
stress education," he said, "because there
is greatness in these children."
Stewart
said the slave-ship dive also coincided with the NABS
Youth Summit, which was held last week in Key Largo,
Florida. The young divers from Cincinnati who participated
in the events were part of a 22-year-old non-profit
program that combines youth ministry, Bible study and
scuba diving for black youth.
Several
NABS members said it’s important for the organization
to continue its youth outreach efforts across the country.
The goal, they said, is to offer young people unique
opportunities in marine science, oceanography and history
while also assisting single parents.
(Our
dive boat, the Sea Eagle, also has an extraordinary
history in Key West. She has received 11 awards from
the U.S. Coast Guard for rescue missions during the
"Freedom Flotilla" of 1980 when thousands
of Cuban refugees fled Cuba in makeshift rafts for the
shores of Key West and freedom in America.)
Corey
Malcom, director of archeology for the Mel Fisher Maritime
Heritage Society – the Key West-based organization
that oversees the Henrietta Marie site and the national
traveling exhibit – lead the young people on a
tour of the Mel Fisher Museum’s second-floor lab
where artifacts from the Henrietta Marie and other wrecks
are stored. www.melfisher.org.
(The
Henrietta Marie exhibit is currently on display at the
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American
History and Culture in Baltimore. www.africanamericanculture.org).
Malcom
told the young people last week that archeology is a
challenging and rewarding profession, though not exactly
lucrative. Malcom said he is presently working on multiple
shipwreck projects and enjoys the rich history that
he often uncovers.
"You
have to love it," he said. "We worked on the
Henrietta Marie for years. It’s a job where you
can spend a lifetime researching one ship."
The
Henrietta Marie wreck was first discovered by accident
in the summer of 1972 by a treasure salvaging company
owned by the late Mel Fisher, a flamboyant and well-known
treasure hunter. One of the divers who originally discovered
shackles from the wreck was Moe Molinar, an underwater
treasure hunter.
Molinar,
who was born in Panama, was the only black diver working
for the company. The last black men to touch the slave
ship shackles had been bound by them and packed into
the lower decks of the Henrietta Marie. Centuries later,
one of the first people to touch those same shackles
was a free black man -- Molinar.
And
last week, for the first time ever, young certified
scuba divers followed Molinar’s lead and visited
the site of the Henrietta Marie for themselves –
black underwater explorers of their generation.
As
the Sea Eagle pulled away from New Ground Reef , the
young divers stood at the back of the boat, whispered
their thoughts, and tossed long-stemmed flowers into
the sea to honor their African forefathers whose names
they will never know.
"Our
generation does care," said Marcus Johnson. "Slavery
has relevance but nobody has taken the time to teach
us."
Until
now.
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