Sonar image of Clotilda. (Credit: Alabama Historical Commission) MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Researchers are returning to the Alabama coast near Mobile to assess the sunken remains of the last slave ship to bring captive Africans to the United States more than 160 years ago.The Alabama Historical Commission said a team will began a 10-day evaluation of the remnants of the Clotilda on Monday.
Experts have described the wreck as the most complete slave ship ever discovered.The agency has hired Resolve Marine, a salvage and services company, for work involving the Clotilda.
The ship was scuttled in the muddy Mobile River after illegally dropping off 110 West Africans on the Alabama coast in 1860, decades after Congress outlawed the international slave trade.RELATED: University of Richmond to rename 6 buildings named after slaveowners, white supremacistsThe company plans to moor a 100-foot-long (30.5-meter-long) barge at the site with equipment to support divers and store artifacts that are removed from the water for analysis and documentation."It is a tremendous duty to ensure the Clotilda is evaluated and preserved," Aaron Jozsef, the project manager for Resolve Marine, said in a statement.Marc Quinn created the likeness of Jen Reid, a protester photographed standing on the plinth after demonstrators pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and dumped it in Bristol’s harbor on June 7.