Sunken History

^{This is an edited, condensed version of the interview with Ayana Flewellen.} 

Beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean lies a history that’s been hidden for centuries: that of ships that sank while carrying enslaved Africans to the Americas. Between the 1500s and the 1860s, hundreds of such vessels were lost to the sea—and with them the lives and stories of the people who had been forced on board. Ayana Flewellen’s mission is to help uncover and share those tales. 

Flewellen is an archaeologist, a scientist who researches human history by studying objects people leave behind. During the school year, Flewellen is a professor at Stanford University in California. In the summer, though, the co-founder of the Society of Black Archaeologists puts on a wet suit and fins as part of a nonprofit called Diving With a Purpose (DWP).

DWP helps map shipwrecks, including those of sunken slave ships along major routes (see “The Middle Passage,” below). The group trains volunteer scuba divers, mostly of African descent, in the basics of underwater archaeology. Then the divers work to document the wrecks, which have already started disintegrating, before they disappear. 

Through the work, Flewellen says, Black divers find and tell their own histories—ones that don’t always appear in books. 

Since 2016, Flewellen has completed more than 50 dives, everywhere from the Caribbean Sea to Alabama’s Mobile River. Here, Flewellen shares what it’s like to take a deep dive into the past. 

Before joining DWP, had you ever been scuba diving? 
I was not familiar with scuba diving in the slightest! But I grew up in Miami, Florida, by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. I have a lot of memories of going to Crandon Park, which is a historically African American beach, and snorkeling with my mother and my grandmother. It wasn’t until a colleague came back from his first dive with DWP that I became interested. His eyes were so wide with excitement that I was like, “All right, let me see . . .”

What was your first dive like?
It changed my entire life. It was in St. Croix. I saw everything from huge purple sea fans to ship anchors stuck into coral reefs. It was a beautiful experience to see the vibrancy of the sea life and also to feel the vastness of the ocean around me. 

How does DWP find the shipwrecks?
We often partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It oversees several hundred wreck sites but doesn’t have enough staff to document all of them. A NOAA archaeologist usually gives us the historical background of a particular site, as well as its GPS coordinates so we can find it. 

What happens during a dive?
The lead divers lay a line of measuring tape from one end of a wreck site to the other end. We use that line to divide the site. Then a pair of divers is assigned to each section. We take measurements of everything in our area. 

When I first began, we used tape measures. But recently, to speed up the process, we’ve been diving with underwater GoPro cameras (see “Tools of the Trade,” below). We take thousands of images of each section. Later, computer software puts together the images, like puzzle pieces. This creates a detailed map of the entire wreck site. On a typical project, we spend two days getting the background information, three or four days in the water, and then a day afterward mapping. 

What kinds of objects have you come across?
Fragments of plates, glass beads that were used for trading, metal pieces, and of course the ships, which are themselves artifacts. In 2021, we did a dive to an 18th-century wooden schooner, one of the oldest ships recovered in the waters near St. John. We found a glass bottle that was likely produced in the mid-18th century; we know that because of the shape of the bottle. Those kinds of artifacts are really exciting because they help give you a date for the wreck itself. 

How does your work help people understand history?
People feel more connected to the past when they can physically see the remains of it. Being able to uncover the remains of a ship that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic brings that history closer to us.  

What skills or qualities make you good at this?
The amount of time I’ve spent learning how to do this work is definitely a qualifier: My first archaeological dig was in 2008, my first dive was in 2016, and I graduated with my Ph.D. in anthropology in 2018. [A Ph.D. is the highest academic degree.] Additionally, I am a lover of history and detail. Archaeology—whether on land or underwater—requires that you pay attention to detail. 

What advice do you have for teens interested in marine archaeology?
Get into the water. Start in your region. Is there a local beach or river cleanup that you can join? Our waterways are waiting for people like you to explore their wonders.