BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The last slave ship known to have landed in the United States has a new owner: The state of Alabama.
A federal judge granted ownership of the Clotilda shipwreck to the Alabama Historical Commission in an order released Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose means the state will have final say over remnants of the ship, which was found on a muddy river bottom north of Mobile and identified last year.
The ship sailed to West Africa on an illegal trip financed by a wealthy white businessman in 1860. It delivered about 110 kidnapped Africans to Mobile before it was scuttled and burned.