Ceremony to be held on Clifton beach, Cape Town, near recently discovered wreck site of Portuguese ship which went down with slaves on board
A small, solemn memorial service will be held on one of South Africa’s most popular beaches on Tuesday, close to a recently discovered shipwreck where more than 200 African slaves drowned at the bottom of the sea.
The Portuguese ship, the São José-Paquete de Africa, was sailing from Mozambique to Brazil when it sank in turbulent waters near Cape Town in December 1794. Researchers say it is the first time that the remains of a slave ship that went down with slaves aboard has been identified.
Albie Sachs, a former constitutional court judge, will give a speech welcoming diplomats, activists and community leaders at the ceremony on Clifton beach, near the wreck site. “It’s profound and terrible to feel this is one of the most beautiful beaches in the whole world and within such a short distance lie the bodies of 200 slaves who died there,” the 80-year-old said on Monday.
“Presumably they were still in shackles or they could have swum to shore. This has been an untold story that has repercussions and reverberations for us today. Somehow their memories survive even though they’re not in the history books.”
The São José was making one of the earliest voyages of the transatlantic slave trade from east Africa to the Americas, which persisted well into the 19th century. More than 400,000 east Africans, shackled in ships’ holds, are estimated to have made the four-month, 7,000-mile journey from Mozambique to the sugar plantations of Brazil between 1800 and 1865.
The São José had only been sailing for 24 days when, tossed by strong winds in view of Lion’s Head mountain, it was smashed on submerged rocks 100 metres from shore. An estimated 212 slaves perished. About 300 survived and were resold into slavery in the Cape. The Portuguese captain, Manuel João, and his crew were also rescued.
The wreck lay undisturbed for nearly 200 years but was found in the mid-1980s by local amateur treasure-hunters who misidentified it as the remains of an earlier Dutch vessel. But in 2011 Jaco Boshoff, a maritime archaeologist, discovered the captain’s account of the wrecking of the São José in local archives. Those on board “made ropes and baskets and continuing like this were able to save some men and slaves until five in the evening, when the ship broke to pieces”, it recorded.
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Evidence steadily built. Copper fastenings and copper sheathing indicated a wreck of a later period, and there was also iron ballast – often found on slave ships as a means of counterbalancing the variable weights of their human cargo. The Slave Wrecks Project, an international collaboration, found an archival document in Portugal stating that the Saõ José had loaded 1,500 iron blocks of ballast before she departed for Mozambique.
Further research located a document in which a slave is noted as sold by a local sheikh to the captain of the Saõ José prior to its departure, definitively identifying Mozambique Island as the port of departure for the slaving voyage.
Objects retrieved from the ship this year include fragile remnants of shackles, iron ballast to weigh down the ship and its human cargo, copper fastenings and a wooden pulley block. There has been no trace of human remains.
Boshoff, co-originator of the Slave Wrecks Project and principal archaeological investigator on the Saõ José excavation, said: “The more information we get the better. The memorial service will be a bit more emotional, but when we start work again we’ll have to dial back the emotion.”
He added: “Every day there are discoveries made but, in the history of the slave trade, this one is important. It’s the first time we’ve been able to look at a ship that sank with slaves still on board.”
The wreck site is located between two reefs and is prone to strong swells, making conditions difficult for archaeologists. So far only a small percentage has been excavated. “There is a lot to do,” Boshoff said. “We haven’t scratched the service. It’s a wide-ranging project and I’m fortunate it’s on my doorstep.”
A public symposium, called Bringing The São José Into Memory, will be held in Cape Town on Wednesday. Some of the recovered objects are to be displayed on long-term loan at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
Lonnie Bunch, director of the museum, who is due to attend Tuesday’s event, said: “Perhaps the single greatest symbol of the transatlantic slave trade is the ships that carried millions of captive Africans across the Atlantic never to return.
“This discovery is significant because there has never been archaeological documentation of a vessel that foundered and was lost while carrying a cargo of enslaved persons. The São José is all the more significant because it represents one of the earliest attempts to bring east Africans into the transatlantic slave trade – a shift that played a major role in prolonging that tragic trade for decades.
“Locating, documenting, and preserving this cultural heritage through the São José has the potential to reshape our understandings of a part of history that has been considered unknowable.”
Plans for divers from Mozambique, South Africa and the US to deposit soil from Mozambique Island, the site of the Saõ José’s embarkation, on the wreck site has been abandoned due to Cape Town’s volatile winter weather and high tides.
For Sachs, who lost an arm and the sight in one eye in a bombing in Mozambique while in exile in the 1980s, the international flavour of the day will be important. “There is a wonderful cooperation between the Smithsonian and the Iziko Museums of South Africa. People are diving together and compiling the information together. This is a beautiful example of present-day globalisation recovering an example of terrible globalisation from the 18th century.
“It’s a healing to have people getting together to memorialise the dead. I was nearly killed by a car bomb planted by South African agents in Mozambique. Mozambicans saved my life. Here South Africans are honouring colleagues from Mozambique for this commemoration.”
FRENCH VERSION
Chercheurs d’archéologie sous-marine sur le site du naufrageesclave São José près du Cap de bonne espérance en Afrique du Sud.
Le navire portugais, le São José-Paquete de Africa, naviguait duMozambique au Brésil, lorsqu’il a coulé dans les eaux agitéesprès du Cap en décembre 1794. Les chercheurs disent que c’estla première fois que les restes d’un navire négrier qui descenditavec esclaves à bord a été identifié.
Albie Sachs, un juge de la Cour constitutionnelle ancien,prononcera un discours accueillant des diplomates, des militantset dirigeants de la communauté lors de la cérémonie sur la plagede Clifton, près du site de l’épave. « Elle est profonde et terriblede sentir cela est l’une des plus belles plages dans le mondeentier et au sein d’un tel mensonge de courte distance les corpsde 200 esclaves qui y mourut, » le 80-year-old a déclaré lundi.
« Sans doute qu’ils étaient encore dans les fers ou ils pourraientavoir nagé au rivage. Cela a été une histoire qui a desrépercussions et des réverbérations pour nous aujourd’hui. En quelque sorte leurs souvenirs survivent même si ils ne sont pasdans les livres d’histoire. »
Le São José faisait l’un des premiers voyages de la traite négrièretransatlantique de l’Afrique vers les Amériques, qui a persistéjusqu’au XIXe siècle. Plus de 400 000 africains de l’est, enchaînésdans les cales des navires, estime avoir fait le voyage de quatre mois, de 7 000 milles du Mozambique les plantations de sucre duBrésil entre 1800 et 1865.
Le São José avait seulement navigué pendant 24 jours lorsque,ballotté par des vents forts au vu de la montagne de tête de Lion,il a été fracassé sur les rochers submergés 100 mètres du rivage.Un estimé esclaves 212 ont péri. Environ 300 ont survécu et ont été revendues comme esclaves au Cap. Le capitaine portugais,João Manuel et son équipage ont été secourus également.
L’épave lay non perturbée pendant près de 200 ans mais a étéretrouvé dans les années 1980 par locales amateurs-chasseurs detrésors qui il confondu avec les restes d’un navire hollandais leplus tôt. Mais en 2011 Jaco Boshoff, un archéologue maritime,découvert le compte du commandant de bord de la destructionde la José São dans les archives locales. Les passagers “faite decordes et paniers et continue comme cela étaient en mesure desauver des hommes et des esclaves jusqu’à cinq dans la soirée,lorsque le navire se brisèrent en morceaux”, il a enregistré.
Preuve solidement construite. Attaches en cuivre et cuivreengainant indiquent une épave d’une période ultérieure, et il yavait aussi des ballast de fer – souvent trouvée sur les bateauxnégriers comme un moyen de contrebalancer les poids variablesde leur cargaison humaine. Projet d’épaves de l’esclave, unecollaboration internationale, trouvé un document d’archive enPortugal affirmant que le Saõ José avait chargé 1 500 blocs de ferde ballast avant elle a quitté pour le Mozambique.
D’autres recherches situé un document dans lequel un esclaveest remarqué vendus par un cheikh local vers le capitaine de laJosé Saõ avant son départ, identifier définitivement l’île deMozambique comme port de départ pour le voyage slaving.
Objets récupérés du navire cette année incluent fragiles vestigesde manilles, ballast de fer pour alourdir le navire et sa cargaisonhumaine, attaches en cuivre et un palan en bois. Il y n’a euaucune trace de restes humains.
Boshoff, co auteur du projet épaves esclave et principalinvestigateur archéologique sur les fouilles de Saõ José, a déclaré: “les plus d’informations, nous obtenons le mieux. Leservice commémoratif sera un peu plus émotionnel, mais quandon commence à travailler à nouveau, nous aurons à rappelerl’émotion. »
Il a ajouté: “tous les jours il y a des découvertes faites, mais, dansl’histoire de la traite négrière, celui-ci est important. C’est lapremière fois que nous avons pu regarder un navire qui a couléavec esclaves encore à bord. »
Le site de l’épave se trouve entre deux ris et est sujets à forteshoules, rendant les conditions difficiles pour les archéologues.Jusqu’à présent, seul un petit pourcentage a été fouillé. « Il y abeaucoup à faire », a déclaré Boshoff. “Nous n’avons pas rayé duservice. C’est un projet de grande envergure et j’ai la chance, que c’est à ma porte. »
Un symposium public, appelé apportant le São José dans lamémoire, se tiendra au Cap mercredi. Certains des objetsrécupérés doivent être affichés sur un prêt à long terme ànouveau National Museum of African American History de laSmithsonian Institution et la Culture à Washington.
Lonnie Bunch, directrice du Musée, qui est due à assister à desévénements de mardi, a dit: « peut-être le seul plus grandsymbole de la traite négrière transatlantique est des bateaux quiont transporté des millions de captifs africains outre-Atlantiquene jamais revenir.
