Diving to the Slave Ship Henrietta Marie Monument

The Henrietta Marie was a London-based, English slave ship wrecked in 1700 at New Ground Reef, 35 miles west of Key West, Florida. The shipwreck was discovered by Key West treasure-hunter Mel Fisher's Treasure Salvors, Inc. in 1972. It later became the subject of much archaeological research. A large-scale museum exhibition about the Henrietta Marie was organized in 1995 by the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society. The exhibit has since traveled to museums across the United States and the Caribbean.
On May 15, 1993, the National Association of Black Scuba Divers placed a one-ton concrete monument at the wreck. The monument was dedicated to the Africans forced to sail aboard the Henrietta Marie and all other slave ships like it. This video, created by staff at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum with help from the RPM Nautical Foundation, shows how the memorial appears today, in its underwater setting at New Ground Reef.

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