1 00:00:19,193 --> 00:00:20,893 The Atlantic Ocean floor 2 00:00:21,021 --> 00:00:23,761 is one giant graveyard and a crime scene. 3 00:00:26,374 --> 00:00:28,384 Remains of over 2,000,000 of our ancestors 4 00:00:28,506 --> 00:00:29,766 once covered these dark recesses of the world. 5 00:00:33,816 --> 00:00:37,466 For centuries, the transatlantic slave trade seemed unstoppable, 6 00:00:37,602 --> 00:00:40,172 but it was brought to an end. 7 00:00:44,914 --> 00:00:49,054 What got this many people so fired up that they spoke out? 8 00:00:49,179 --> 00:00:51,829 There's a greater than 99% probability 9 00:00:51,964 --> 00:00:53,844 that all living African Americans 10 00:00:53,966 --> 00:00:55,656 have at least one relative 11 00:00:55,794 --> 00:01:00,894 who landed here, really the epicenter of slavery. 12 00:01:01,017 --> 00:01:05,497 The world of print would bring slavery right up close. 13 00:01:05,630 --> 00:01:07,500 It's something that you can't avoid thinking about anymore. 14 00:01:07,632 --> 00:01:09,682 These Africans had actually 15 00:01:09,808 --> 00:01:12,588 fought and won their freedom. 16 00:01:12,724 --> 00:01:16,644 They ended up dying in chains in freezing cold water. 17 00:01:20,819 --> 00:01:24,079 This was equal in value to a human being. 18 00:01:24,214 --> 00:01:26,964 So, researching the details and the horror 19 00:01:27,087 --> 00:01:29,257 of the transatlantic slave trade radicalized him. 20 00:01:31,526 --> 00:01:34,616 Is it fair to say Lincoln freed the slaves? 21 00:01:34,746 --> 00:01:45,056 Not quite. 22 00:01:45,192 --> 00:01:47,852 The captain said, "I come from hell 23 00:01:47,977 --> 00:01:49,847 and I'm going to damnation." 24 00:01:49,979 --> 00:01:52,849 I think I know exactly what he was afraid of. 25 00:02:11,696 --> 00:02:13,436 London was at the very center 26 00:02:13,568 --> 00:02:17,398 of the transatlantic slave trade. 27 00:02:17,528 --> 00:02:20,488 England's enormous wealth was in part created 28 00:02:20,618 --> 00:02:23,138 by the trafficking of enslaved humans. 29 00:02:25,928 --> 00:02:28,708 But it was also the place where the first political steps 30 00:02:28,844 --> 00:02:30,854 were taken to bring the awful chapter 31 00:02:30,976 --> 00:02:31,886 in human history to an end. 32 00:02:40,986 --> 00:02:42,766 - Hey. - Hi, Sam. 33 00:02:42,901 --> 00:02:43,861 - Hello. - Good to see you guys. 34 00:02:43,989 --> 00:02:44,769 - You, too. - How are you? 35 00:02:44,903 --> 00:02:46,693 Wow. 36 00:02:46,818 --> 00:02:48,948 - Wow, look at this. - It's kind of awesome, right? 37 00:02:49,081 --> 00:02:53,301 The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, 38 00:02:53,434 --> 00:02:55,394 as the King wishes. 39 00:02:55,523 --> 00:02:56,613 So it had royal assent. 40 00:02:56,741 --> 00:02:58,481 Yes. 41 00:02:58,613 --> 00:03:00,483 This is a "wow." 42 00:03:00,615 --> 00:03:03,485 "The same should be forthwith abolished 43 00:03:03,618 --> 00:03:08,968 and prohibited and declared to be unlawful." 44 00:03:09,101 --> 00:03:11,891 But this doesn't abolish slavery. 45 00:03:12,017 --> 00:03:15,667 It abolished the purchase and transfer of slaves 46 00:03:15,804 --> 00:03:18,814 from African countries. It's all about the trade itself. 47 00:03:18,937 --> 00:03:22,767 Britain was the biggest trafficker in Africans, 48 00:03:22,898 --> 00:03:24,508 and then it was the first European country 49 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:25,939 to abolish it. 50 00:03:28,033 --> 00:03:31,473 It was a really momentous time in British history 51 00:03:31,602 --> 00:03:34,482 because after decades of campaigning, petitions, 52 00:03:34,605 --> 00:03:38,645 Parliament finally decided to stop British ships 53 00:03:38,783 --> 00:03:40,443 and British merchants kidnapping 54 00:03:40,568 --> 00:03:41,658 and trafficking Africans. 55 00:03:44,180 --> 00:03:47,230 But they left the institution of slavery in the Caribbean, 56 00:03:47,357 --> 00:03:48,787 on which the economy was still very dependent, 57 00:03:48,924 --> 00:03:50,494 that remained intact. 58 00:03:50,621 --> 00:03:51,751 - Exactly. - If you were a slave, 59 00:03:51,883 --> 00:03:53,493 you wouldn't have felt any different. 60 00:03:53,624 --> 00:03:55,674 It would take almost another 30 years 61 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:57,240 to abolish slavery altogether. 62 00:04:00,022 --> 00:04:03,502 Okay, so suddenly in 1807, this is possible. 63 00:04:03,634 --> 00:04:05,944 Why wasn't it possible in 1806? 64 00:04:06,071 --> 00:04:07,991 There's another document that I want to show you. 65 00:04:10,989 --> 00:04:12,379 Right, this is the Manchester petition 66 00:04:12,513 --> 00:04:14,253 against the slave trade. 67 00:04:14,384 --> 00:04:16,084 It's got many thousands of signatures on it, 68 00:04:16,212 --> 00:04:18,822 as you can see. 69 00:04:18,954 --> 00:04:21,004 These just would have been ordinary people 70 00:04:21,130 --> 00:04:25,090 trying to influence Parliament. 71 00:04:25,221 --> 00:04:27,701 There were hundreds of petitions like this that were presented 72 00:04:27,832 --> 00:04:30,532 to Parliament, especially in the 1790s 73 00:04:30,661 --> 00:04:33,491 and in the years right up to the Act of Abolition. 74 00:04:33,621 --> 00:04:34,491 And this is just Manchester? 75 00:04:34,622 --> 00:04:38,192 This is just Manchester. 76 00:04:38,321 --> 00:04:39,761 It's really strange, what your eye is drawn to 77 00:04:39,888 --> 00:04:41,148 when you look at this. 78 00:04:41,281 --> 00:04:43,591 You know, I've found like four Samuels already. 79 00:04:43,718 --> 00:04:45,288 I'm used to seeing "Samuel", so I was like, 80 00:04:45,415 --> 00:04:46,715 "Oh, wow, there's a "Sam." There's a "Samuel." 81 00:04:49,724 --> 00:04:50,464 Think there's an "Afua" on there? 82 00:04:51,508 --> 00:04:52,468 That I doubt. 83 00:04:53,989 --> 00:04:55,159 Never say "never." 84 00:04:55,295 --> 00:04:56,505 All these ordinary people. 85 00:04:56,644 --> 00:04:57,824 That made a difference. 86 00:04:57,949 --> 00:04:59,039 Regular old jobs that are trying to make a difference, 87 00:04:59,168 --> 00:05:00,778 just like now. 88 00:05:00,909 --> 00:05:03,089 Another thing here is you can see women signed it. 89 00:05:03,215 --> 00:05:04,515 I mean, this was an era before women had the vote. 90 00:05:07,089 --> 00:05:09,869 What I want to know is what happened 91 00:05:10,005 --> 00:05:13,305 that suddenly got this many people so fired up 92 00:05:13,443 --> 00:05:18,063 that the attitude changed and they spoke out? 93 00:05:18,187 --> 00:05:21,447 What turned this country into the first European country 94 00:05:21,582 --> 00:05:22,582 to abolish slavery? 95 00:05:22,713 --> 00:05:23,893 Exactly. 96 00:05:29,894 --> 00:05:32,164 In this small town, on the Western coast of England, 97 00:05:32,288 --> 00:05:34,288 just at the moment, 98 00:05:34,421 --> 00:05:35,811 when the tide was finally beginning to turn 99 00:05:35,944 --> 00:05:38,344 against the slave trade, 100 00:05:38,468 --> 00:05:41,988 a slave ship called "The London" was wrecked in a storm. 101 00:05:47,085 --> 00:05:49,565 It was carrying over 60 enslaved Africans. 102 00:05:56,094 --> 00:05:58,274 Almost all of them died as the ship smashed 103 00:05:58,401 --> 00:05:59,971 on the cliffs of the Bristol Channel. 104 00:06:02,753 --> 00:06:04,803 Yet the tragedy was practically forgotten 105 00:06:04,929 --> 00:06:06,929 until recently when Professor Mark Horton 106 00:06:07,062 --> 00:06:08,722 and his colleagues began the process 107 00:06:08,846 --> 00:06:10,106 of reviving the story. 108 00:06:13,851 --> 00:06:18,161 The story starts in 1796. 109 00:06:18,290 --> 00:06:23,640 A convoy of ships was coming in from the West Indies, 110 00:06:23,774 --> 00:06:27,654 carrying loot, but also Africans 111 00:06:27,778 --> 00:06:29,998 from the former French Colonies, 112 00:06:30,128 --> 00:06:33,178 who'd been fighting for independence in St. Lucia. 113 00:06:33,305 --> 00:06:36,695 They'd be captured and re-enslaved. 114 00:06:36,831 --> 00:06:41,401 And one of the ships, "The London," got separated out. 115 00:06:41,531 --> 00:06:44,711 A great storm erupted, and as you can see, 116 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,839 it's a very dangerous coastline. 117 00:06:48,973 --> 00:06:53,593 And in a trice, the ship was dashed onto the rocks just here. 118 00:06:58,853 --> 00:07:01,293 All of the people on the deck survived, but of course, 119 00:07:01,421 --> 00:07:02,941 the people below decks... 120 00:07:05,425 --> 00:07:07,905 shackled in their positions, 121 00:07:08,036 --> 00:07:09,426 down there as cargo, 122 00:07:09,559 --> 00:07:12,609 would have drowned as the ship stoved in. 123 00:07:12,736 --> 00:07:14,426 The water would have rushed in. 124 00:07:14,564 --> 00:07:17,794 It was a dark night in October, nobody would have bothered 125 00:07:17,915 --> 00:07:19,045 to come and rescue them. 126 00:07:21,832 --> 00:07:24,102 So, these people died in shallow water 127 00:07:24,226 --> 00:07:25,706 and no one bothered to unshackle them 128 00:07:25,836 --> 00:07:27,226 or even give them a fighting chance. 129 00:07:27,359 --> 00:07:30,409 Yes, everyone was looking after their own skin. 130 00:07:30,537 --> 00:07:32,317 Are any of those remains, any of that, 131 00:07:32,452 --> 00:07:34,372 is that still down there today? 132 00:07:34,497 --> 00:07:37,847 Well, surprisingly, nobody has ever looked. 133 00:07:40,590 --> 00:07:43,770 We will be the first try and explain this tragedy 134 00:07:43,898 --> 00:07:46,198 from the very last days of the slave trade. 135 00:07:53,037 --> 00:07:55,207 The slave trade took place at a time 136 00:07:55,344 --> 00:07:59,744 when it was not easy to spread new ideas like abolition, 137 00:07:59,870 --> 00:08:02,350 but one man found a way to do it. 138 00:08:02,482 --> 00:08:05,312 Who was Thomas Clarkson? 139 00:08:05,441 --> 00:08:07,141 Thomas Clarkson was a native of Wisbech. 140 00:08:07,269 --> 00:08:09,449 He was born in 1760. 141 00:08:09,576 --> 00:08:13,356 And he was set an essay, and the subject 142 00:08:13,493 --> 00:08:16,103 was is it lawful to make others slaves against their will? 143 00:08:18,541 --> 00:08:20,331 Thomas didn't know too much about the subject 144 00:08:20,456 --> 00:08:22,886 but immersed himself in it. 145 00:08:23,024 --> 00:08:25,374 It completely changed his life. 146 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:27,155 He realized then that something had to be done 147 00:08:27,289 --> 00:08:30,069 to abolish this dreadful slave trade. 148 00:08:30,205 --> 00:08:32,465 And Thomas just became completely overtaken 149 00:08:32,599 --> 00:08:36,079 by this desire to see the end of the slave trade. 150 00:08:36,211 --> 00:08:39,131 So, researching the details and the horror 151 00:08:39,257 --> 00:08:41,217 of the transatlantic slave trade radicalized him. 152 00:08:41,346 --> 00:08:42,606 Yeah, very much so. 153 00:08:44,698 --> 00:08:48,138 He spent the rest of his life dedicated to that cause, 154 00:08:48,266 --> 00:08:50,696 traveled thousands of miles all around the country 155 00:08:50,834 --> 00:08:52,104 on horseback. 156 00:08:52,227 --> 00:08:54,097 He would be this figure turning up in the towns, 157 00:08:54,229 --> 00:08:56,749 talking to groups of people, 158 00:08:56,884 --> 00:08:59,764 getting them to set up societies to abolish 159 00:08:59,887 --> 00:09:02,927 firstly the slave trade and then slavery. 160 00:09:03,064 --> 00:09:05,334 Basically, anything and everything that could be done 161 00:09:05,457 --> 00:09:07,327 to support the cause of abolition, 162 00:09:07,459 --> 00:09:09,419 Thomas Clarkson was there doing it. 163 00:09:09,549 --> 00:09:12,249 So he tried to make people understand that Africans 164 00:09:12,377 --> 00:09:14,287 were not chattel, but human beings 165 00:09:14,423 --> 00:09:15,733 with knowledge and culture. 166 00:09:15,859 --> 00:09:17,859 Yes, he did. 167 00:09:17,992 --> 00:09:21,742 Is this what he referred to as his African chest? 168 00:09:21,865 --> 00:09:23,125 His African box, yes. 169 00:09:25,652 --> 00:09:27,392 The first division, as he called it, 170 00:09:27,523 --> 00:09:31,573 was the manufactory items, items from nature 171 00:09:31,701 --> 00:09:34,101 that could be used in this country for medicines. 172 00:09:34,225 --> 00:09:37,265 He would also have the fabrics 173 00:09:37,402 --> 00:09:40,012 to show the craftsmanship of the people in Africa, 174 00:09:40,144 --> 00:09:42,584 basically to argue that we've got these amazing things, 175 00:09:42,712 --> 00:09:45,452 why are we selling Africans when we could be 176 00:09:45,585 --> 00:09:47,715 trading with them for this wonderful objects? 177 00:09:50,024 --> 00:09:51,854 So, these were items to make a positive case 178 00:09:51,982 --> 00:09:54,592 as to what the potential for trading Africa was. 179 00:09:54,724 --> 00:09:57,074 Looks like there were some things that also made 180 00:09:57,205 --> 00:09:59,115 the more negative case about what was wrong, 181 00:09:59,250 --> 00:10:01,910 how African slaves were treated. 182 00:10:02,036 --> 00:10:04,946 Yeah, he had some items in the bottom of the chest. 183 00:10:05,082 --> 00:10:07,782 Division four contained the instruments of torture. 184 00:10:12,002 --> 00:10:13,092 This is a sinister- looking object. 185 00:10:13,221 --> 00:10:14,091 What was this? 186 00:10:14,222 --> 00:10:16,222 The neck collar. 187 00:10:16,354 --> 00:10:17,534 This would have been torture. 188 00:10:17,660 --> 00:10:19,580 This would be put around the neck. 189 00:10:19,706 --> 00:10:22,486 You've got these spikes sticking out, 190 00:10:22,622 --> 00:10:25,282 which meant that the person who had to wear it 191 00:10:25,407 --> 00:10:27,577 wouldn't be able to escape into the bush 192 00:10:27,714 --> 00:10:30,064 because they'd get caught on the growth. 193 00:10:39,421 --> 00:10:41,031 You also couldn't lay down. 194 00:10:41,162 --> 00:10:43,252 You couldn't sit comfortably. 195 00:10:43,381 --> 00:10:45,431 They wouldn't be able to get close to people. 196 00:10:45,557 --> 00:10:46,947 Must have been absolutely horrific, 197 00:10:47,081 --> 00:10:49,261 not to mention the weight of the object itself. 198 00:10:55,306 --> 00:10:57,436 And then we have a long chain 199 00:10:57,569 --> 00:10:59,399 to put around the ankles to fix people, 200 00:10:59,528 --> 00:11:00,958 a row of them. 201 00:11:05,447 --> 00:11:07,967 So people's feet would have been clamped together with this 202 00:11:08,102 --> 00:11:09,972 and then also attached to either a row 203 00:11:10,104 --> 00:11:11,714 of other-- - Yes. 204 00:11:11,845 --> 00:11:14,455 also chained people to an object, to keep them tied up? 205 00:11:14,586 --> 00:11:15,886 Yes. 206 00:11:16,023 --> 00:11:17,293 To keep them from running away because they were 207 00:11:17,415 --> 00:11:19,065 a commodity, they were being sold. 208 00:11:21,724 --> 00:11:23,334 It would have probably shocked people to know 209 00:11:23,465 --> 00:11:24,895 that these were being manufactured 210 00:11:25,032 --> 00:11:26,992 within this country. 211 00:11:27,121 --> 00:11:30,121 Clarkson had a tremendous influence on people. 212 00:11:36,826 --> 00:11:39,866 The Bristol Channel has the highest tidal range 213 00:11:40,003 --> 00:11:41,223 in the world. 214 00:11:41,352 --> 00:11:43,402 It's about 40-50 feet. 215 00:11:43,528 --> 00:11:46,618 So we have to get exactly the right time of year 216 00:11:46,749 --> 00:11:49,579 when we've got a really low tide. 217 00:11:49,709 --> 00:11:53,539 And today is the lowest tide. 218 00:11:53,669 --> 00:11:56,059 My team are going to work on dry land 219 00:11:56,193 --> 00:11:58,943 with geophysical equipment to see if we can find 220 00:11:59,066 --> 00:12:04,196 remains of the ship, on the beach itself. 221 00:12:04,332 --> 00:12:07,032 Meanwhile, you're going to go out to sea, 222 00:12:07,161 --> 00:12:10,821 dive to see if you can find remains of it underwater. 223 00:12:14,734 --> 00:12:16,524 This is our final mission, 224 00:12:16,648 --> 00:12:19,038 and we've learned a lot up until now. 225 00:12:19,173 --> 00:12:21,483 This mission is disturbing to me 226 00:12:21,610 --> 00:12:25,350 because these Africans had actually fought 227 00:12:25,483 --> 00:12:27,923 and won their freedom on the Island of Saint Lucia 228 00:12:28,051 --> 00:12:28,921 in the Caribbean. 229 00:12:31,794 --> 00:12:34,104 And within a year of that time, the British came back... 230 00:12:38,583 --> 00:12:41,893 and re-enslaved them. 231 00:12:42,022 --> 00:12:45,812 Took them back to England. 232 00:12:45,939 --> 00:12:48,029 They didn't bring them from St. Lucia to here, right? 233 00:12:48,158 --> 00:12:49,898 As prisoners of war, they brought them 234 00:12:50,030 --> 00:12:51,600 as re-enslaved Africans. 235 00:12:51,727 --> 00:12:55,947 They ended up dying in chains in the hull 236 00:12:56,079 --> 00:12:59,429 of that ship in freezing cold war. 237 00:13:06,176 --> 00:13:08,396 The accounts from the time show that "The London" 238 00:13:08,526 --> 00:13:11,266 foundered off the small bay called Rapparee Cove, 239 00:13:11,399 --> 00:13:13,659 which is adjacent to the Harbour of Ilfracombe. 240 00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:15,363 So this is where we're going to be looking. 241 00:13:15,490 --> 00:13:17,710 This is where the wreck ended off at. 242 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,020 I plotted out some of the targets 243 00:13:20,147 --> 00:13:21,627 that we should go look at. 244 00:13:21,757 --> 00:13:23,587 So we'll move closer and closer and closer 245 00:13:23,715 --> 00:13:25,535 into the area where she was sitting on the rocks. 246 00:13:36,685 --> 00:13:38,685 For the first time since "The London" foundered 247 00:13:38,818 --> 00:13:41,518 more than 220 years ago, 248 00:13:41,646 --> 00:13:44,386 an underwater search for the wreck is finally happening. 249 00:13:47,304 --> 00:13:50,394 It's not a very deep dive, but the visibility is not good. 250 00:13:50,525 --> 00:13:53,395 The Northern Atlantic waters are frigid 251 00:13:53,528 --> 00:13:55,568 and the Bristol Channel currents are exceptionally strong. 252 00:14:01,275 --> 00:14:02,835 To find debris from the shipwreck, 253 00:14:02,972 --> 00:14:05,452 we scanned the bottom with metal detectors, 254 00:14:05,583 --> 00:14:07,503 looking for metallic components that could have been 255 00:14:07,629 --> 00:14:10,409 on the ship or part of the ship. 256 00:14:10,545 --> 00:14:14,065 Pieces of the hull, nails, guns, anchors, 257 00:14:14,201 --> 00:14:15,861 chains, and shackles. 258 00:14:15,985 --> 00:14:17,465 It could take hours to pick up a signal. 259 00:14:22,905 --> 00:14:27,165 So we work in shifts, each pair surveys underwater 260 00:14:27,301 --> 00:14:29,651 for up to one hour and then the next team jumps in. 261 00:14:32,436 --> 00:14:34,566 The magnetometer hit on something. 262 00:14:34,699 --> 00:14:38,699 So we started digging, feverishly digging, 263 00:14:38,834 --> 00:14:40,314 and fanning and digging and fanning. 264 00:14:40,444 --> 00:14:42,584 You get into it. 265 00:14:42,707 --> 00:14:45,147 You could hear the magnetometer going off, 266 00:14:45,275 --> 00:14:47,055 hitting on something and you just want to be able 267 00:14:47,190 --> 00:14:49,370 to find what it's hitting on. 268 00:14:49,497 --> 00:14:52,017 I could see Valerie in this cloud of black 269 00:14:52,152 --> 00:14:53,892 and it was super turbid. 270 00:14:54,023 --> 00:14:55,683 I couldn't see her. I couldn't see my hand. 271 00:14:55,807 --> 00:14:59,247 I couldn't see anything. 272 00:14:59,376 --> 00:15:03,416 And you know, I found something. This is what I found. 273 00:15:03,554 --> 00:15:05,734 Mallory, what do you think it is? 274 00:15:05,861 --> 00:15:08,041 Oh, there you go. 275 00:15:08,168 --> 00:15:09,338 Here you go, it's a wrench. 276 00:15:09,473 --> 00:15:12,003 It's a wrench. Found a wrench. 277 00:15:19,222 --> 00:15:20,662 Guys, I'm coming up! 278 00:15:22,660 --> 00:15:25,660 So after hours of searching, we didn't find anything. 279 00:15:25,794 --> 00:15:27,064 And now the tide is going down. 280 00:15:27,187 --> 00:15:28,537 So we have to stop. 281 00:15:28,666 --> 00:15:30,146 Pick it up again tomorrow. 282 00:15:30,277 --> 00:15:32,237 Now it's time for the archeologists on land 283 00:15:32,366 --> 00:15:33,756 to get to work. 284 00:15:33,889 --> 00:15:35,369 Hopefully, they'll have better luck than us. 285 00:15:41,505 --> 00:15:44,285 On the other side of the ocean in the United States, 286 00:15:44,421 --> 00:15:47,731 slavery was so infused with the local economy 287 00:15:47,859 --> 00:15:49,429 that a change in public opinion 288 00:15:49,557 --> 00:15:52,387 wasn't enough to end it. 289 00:15:52,516 --> 00:15:55,646 Here, abolition was earned in blood, 290 00:15:55,780 --> 00:16:00,260 in the deadliest conflict America has ever known. 291 00:16:00,394 --> 00:16:02,184 So what's the significance of this place? 292 00:16:02,309 --> 00:16:05,309 - There's a spooky feel to it. - Yeah. I mean-- 293 00:16:05,442 --> 00:16:07,232 That's not very scientific. 294 00:16:07,357 --> 00:16:09,397 No, but a lot of people died here. 295 00:16:13,102 --> 00:16:14,502 There were Confederate forces up on that ridge 296 00:16:14,625 --> 00:16:16,845 firing down on the Union soldiers. 297 00:16:16,976 --> 00:16:18,456 The Confederates are up there. 298 00:16:18,586 --> 00:16:20,536 The Union soldiers are rushing over here. 299 00:16:20,675 --> 00:16:22,325 Right, and you could see here, the Confederates 300 00:16:22,459 --> 00:16:23,809 have the high ground. 301 00:16:23,939 --> 00:16:26,289 And so they are able to pick Union soldiers off 302 00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:28,340 as they're trying to cross this little bridge. 303 00:16:28,465 --> 00:16:33,505 And I think the choice to make this charge, um... 304 00:16:33,644 --> 00:16:35,124 cost a lot of people their lives. 305 00:16:38,649 --> 00:16:40,219 When it comes to the struggle for abolition 306 00:16:40,347 --> 00:16:41,957 in the United States, 307 00:16:42,088 --> 00:16:44,308 this battle was the turning point. 308 00:16:47,397 --> 00:16:49,357 We're standing in a Union-only cemetery 309 00:16:49,486 --> 00:16:52,446 for soldiers that were killed in the bloodiest day 310 00:16:52,576 --> 00:16:55,966 in US history, on September 17, 1862. 311 00:16:56,102 --> 00:16:57,932 That's a day that lives in more infamy 312 00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:00,760 than uh, D-Day or September 11th. 313 00:17:00,889 --> 00:17:04,589 3,650 people have died here. 314 00:17:04,719 --> 00:17:07,239 Another 2000 died in the days, months, 315 00:17:07,374 --> 00:17:08,984 weeks that followed the battle. 316 00:17:09,115 --> 00:17:12,245 Almost 6,000 soldiers, Union and Southerners-- 317 00:17:12,379 --> 00:17:13,599 That's correct. 318 00:17:13,728 --> 00:17:15,688 Died in this one battle? 319 00:17:15,817 --> 00:17:20,647 How did this battle impact African American's liberation? 320 00:17:20,778 --> 00:17:23,218 The Battle of Antietam had a secret underpinning, 321 00:17:23,346 --> 00:17:25,036 a secret agenda. 322 00:17:25,174 --> 00:17:28,834 Lincoln had, hidden away in his desk, a document. 323 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,660 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 324 00:17:31,789 --> 00:17:33,879 would elevate the war, would make it about a new, 325 00:17:34,009 --> 00:17:35,489 higher purpose. 326 00:17:35,619 --> 00:17:37,709 Make it not just about reunification, 327 00:17:37,839 --> 00:17:39,879 but also about the ending of slavery. 328 00:17:40,015 --> 00:17:42,055 So Lincoln has drafted this proclamation, 329 00:17:42,191 --> 00:17:45,281 but he drafted in 1862 when things are going really badly 330 00:17:45,412 --> 00:17:46,982 for the Union army and his advisors say 331 00:17:47,109 --> 00:17:49,289 basically like we like this idea, 332 00:17:49,416 --> 00:17:50,626 like we're, we're kind of in favor of this, 333 00:17:50,765 --> 00:17:53,855 but it's going to look really bad and desperate 334 00:17:53,985 --> 00:17:57,075 if you do it when the war is going so poorly for us. 335 00:17:57,206 --> 00:17:59,426 And so, after the victory here at Antietam, 336 00:17:59,556 --> 00:18:02,336 Lincoln decides I have the victory I need, 337 00:18:02,472 --> 00:18:04,302 and I'm going to issue the proclamation. 338 00:18:07,477 --> 00:18:09,127 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 339 00:18:09,262 --> 00:18:11,742 one of the things that did was they offered a first-time 340 00:18:11,873 --> 00:18:14,313 invitation for African American soldiers 341 00:18:14,441 --> 00:18:16,311 to join the Union Army. 342 00:18:16,443 --> 00:18:18,973 They did so in droves. 343 00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:22,008 By the end of the Civil War, about 10% of the soldiers 344 00:18:22,144 --> 00:18:25,544 who fought on the Union side would be African Americans. 345 00:18:29,543 --> 00:18:31,943 What happens at Antietam enables Black people 346 00:18:32,067 --> 00:18:33,977 to do what they had wanted to do for so long, 347 00:18:34,113 --> 00:18:36,903 which was to fight slave owners. 348 00:18:41,555 --> 00:18:43,165 This is a chance for me to fight for freedom 349 00:18:43,296 --> 00:18:46,256 for people who look like me all across the country. 350 00:18:50,085 --> 00:18:53,915 So is it fair to say Lincoln freed the slaves? 351 00:18:54,045 --> 00:18:56,475 Not quite. 352 00:18:56,613 --> 00:18:59,623 Lincoln was responding to Black people's own actions 353 00:18:59,747 --> 00:19:01,267 to free themselves. 354 00:19:04,447 --> 00:19:06,617 Starting in May 1861, 355 00:19:06,754 --> 00:19:09,764 before a lot of major battles have taken place, 356 00:19:09,887 --> 00:19:12,537 Black people are running to Fort Monroe in Virginia, 357 00:19:12,673 --> 00:19:14,763 seeking out the Union Army and 358 00:19:14,892 --> 00:19:17,162 demanding that the army should make them free. 359 00:19:17,286 --> 00:19:19,806 And so what Lincoln does is open a door 360 00:19:19,941 --> 00:19:22,861 through which they could travel to freedom. 361 00:19:22,987 --> 00:19:25,947 The story of emancipation is... is just wrong 362 00:19:26,077 --> 00:19:28,427 if it's told without African Americans 363 00:19:28,558 --> 00:19:30,298 actually claiming their own freedom. 364 00:19:32,954 --> 00:19:36,614 "The London" came ashore at high water 365 00:19:36,740 --> 00:19:40,140 and so she would have foundered somewhere here on the beach. 366 00:19:40,266 --> 00:19:43,696 And so it's highly likely that the remains of the ship 367 00:19:43,834 --> 00:19:45,534 were actually buried in the sand. 368 00:19:48,012 --> 00:19:50,542 We're using a technique known as magnetometry. 369 00:19:50,667 --> 00:19:54,017 So if there's any metal objects down there at any great depths, 370 00:19:54,149 --> 00:19:56,669 they're likely to come up as an anomaly. 371 00:19:56,804 --> 00:19:59,854 So we're very systematically going backwards and forwards 372 00:19:59,981 --> 00:20:04,331 along the beach to measure every centimeter of the beach. 373 00:20:11,340 --> 00:20:12,990 What the drone does, it enables us to provide 374 00:20:13,124 --> 00:20:15,694 a three-dimensional map of the cove and the cliffs 375 00:20:15,823 --> 00:20:16,913 and so forth around. 376 00:20:21,132 --> 00:20:24,182 So it provides a visual picture of what is there, 377 00:20:24,310 --> 00:20:26,700 so it helps interpret our findings. 378 00:20:37,975 --> 00:20:39,495 There's something really strange 379 00:20:39,629 --> 00:20:40,799 about the wreck of "The London." 380 00:20:47,855 --> 00:20:50,805 It was so close to the harbor, why did it crash? 381 00:20:50,945 --> 00:20:54,465 Well, the locals saw the ship was in distress. 382 00:20:54,601 --> 00:20:56,431 Lots of people from the harbor rowed out 383 00:20:56,559 --> 00:20:58,689 to try and help the ship 384 00:20:58,822 --> 00:21:00,962 and guide the ship into the harbor. 385 00:21:01,085 --> 00:21:02,865 We even had a pilot 386 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,400 who tried to come on board, but the captain refused. 387 00:21:06,526 --> 00:21:07,566 Refused? 388 00:21:07,701 --> 00:21:10,921 Refused help. 389 00:21:11,052 --> 00:21:12,752 The harbor is right there. 390 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:14,490 Why didn't he just go into the safe harbor? 391 00:21:14,621 --> 00:21:15,841 Why was he still out here? 392 00:21:15,970 --> 00:21:18,150 Well, the captain was reported to have said, 393 00:21:18,277 --> 00:21:22,237 "I've come from hell, I'm going to damnation." 394 00:21:22,368 --> 00:21:25,108 It's a really puzzling thing why he refused help. 395 00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:36,122 So we managed to bring together all the data. 396 00:21:36,251 --> 00:21:39,121 There's clearly a lot of metal further down 397 00:21:39,254 --> 00:21:42,524 to the end of the beach there, as we go lower. 398 00:21:42,649 --> 00:21:45,999 There's a whole lot of anomalies in there. 399 00:21:46,130 --> 00:21:49,570 And then there's a big anomaly, just in there. 400 00:21:49,699 --> 00:21:51,879 So our job tomorrow is really clear. 401 00:21:52,006 --> 00:21:53,566 We've got an hour and a half 402 00:21:53,703 --> 00:21:56,143 of the lowest tide to investigate, 403 00:21:56,271 --> 00:21:58,751 get out our shovels and literally find out 404 00:21:58,882 --> 00:22:00,672 what's remaining. 405 00:22:00,797 --> 00:22:03,537 And whether these rarely are part of a shipwreck, 406 00:22:03,670 --> 00:22:05,760 and hopefully "The London." 407 00:22:13,941 --> 00:22:16,731 As the transatlantic slave trade expanded, 408 00:22:16,857 --> 00:22:19,857 Western European cities, such as London and Paris, 409 00:22:19,990 --> 00:22:23,860 became the biggest and wealthiest in the world. 410 00:22:23,994 --> 00:22:26,874 But it was also here that technological advancements 411 00:22:26,997 --> 00:22:30,607 gave a major boost to the movement for abolition. 412 00:22:30,740 --> 00:22:32,830 And most of all, the printing press. 413 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,050 What do we have here? 414 00:22:36,180 --> 00:22:39,840 First of the iron presses from about 1800. 415 00:22:39,967 --> 00:22:43,057 We've got a illustration on there, a wood engraving. 416 00:22:43,187 --> 00:22:47,667 All engraved by hand, that was engraved in 1860. 417 00:22:47,801 --> 00:22:50,281 This process I'm engaged in, helped put an end 418 00:22:50,412 --> 00:22:52,762 to the slave trade and slavery. 419 00:22:52,893 --> 00:22:54,853 You just place it on the image. 420 00:22:54,982 --> 00:22:57,812 That's it. That's good. 421 00:22:57,941 --> 00:23:01,031 And then pull the handle across to you 422 00:23:01,162 --> 00:23:02,952 as far as you can take it. 423 00:23:06,341 --> 00:23:08,131 Just all the way up. 424 00:23:08,256 --> 00:23:10,296 - It worked! - Excellent. 425 00:23:10,432 --> 00:23:12,352 - It looks really good. - Yeah. 426 00:23:12,478 --> 00:23:14,958 This technology really takes information 427 00:23:15,089 --> 00:23:17,739 and ideas to a totally different level. 428 00:23:17,874 --> 00:23:20,834 Print becomes cheap because of mechanization. 429 00:23:20,964 --> 00:23:22,754 And what happens is that this material 430 00:23:22,879 --> 00:23:26,229 is offered to the public in newspapers and cartoons, 431 00:23:26,361 --> 00:23:28,491 and it becomes a great informer of opinion. 432 00:23:30,713 --> 00:23:32,593 Major issues, the death of Nelson, 433 00:23:32,715 --> 00:23:34,975 or the abolition of the slave trade. 434 00:23:35,109 --> 00:23:37,629 Big issues, puts them in graphic form 435 00:23:37,764 --> 00:23:39,854 and gives them an extraordinary audience. 436 00:23:39,983 --> 00:23:42,603 People make their political judgements 437 00:23:42,725 --> 00:23:45,545 around the cartoons that they see. 438 00:23:48,775 --> 00:23:50,385 The slave trade and slavery 439 00:23:50,516 --> 00:23:52,036 was something that the British and other Europeans 440 00:23:52,169 --> 00:23:54,039 could keep at arm's length. 441 00:23:54,171 --> 00:23:56,911 It was over the horizon out of sight, out of mind. 442 00:23:57,044 --> 00:23:59,834 Cartoons, the world of print of the late 18th century, 443 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,010 bring it right up close. 444 00:24:03,137 --> 00:24:06,177 It's something that you can't avoid thinking about anymore. 445 00:24:06,314 --> 00:24:09,714 For instance, George Cruikshank becomes hugely influential. 446 00:24:09,839 --> 00:24:11,929 This is a really horrific image. 447 00:24:29,380 --> 00:24:31,080 Is this the captain, here? 448 00:24:31,208 --> 00:24:33,648 That's Captain Kimber, torturing the young African 449 00:24:33,776 --> 00:24:34,776 on board his ship. 450 00:24:39,826 --> 00:24:41,736 I've noticed that the white abolitionists 451 00:24:41,871 --> 00:24:43,791 are widely known and celebrated, 452 00:24:43,917 --> 00:24:45,827 but what's less known is the names 453 00:24:45,962 --> 00:24:47,922 of some of the Africans who were involved. 454 00:24:48,051 --> 00:24:49,271 It was an army of unknown soldiers 455 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:50,790 in the background of this. 456 00:24:50,924 --> 00:24:52,754 And the most interesting one in some ways 457 00:24:52,882 --> 00:24:55,152 is the African, Olaudah Equiano. 458 00:24:55,276 --> 00:24:57,886 I acquired a first edition of his book, 459 00:24:58,018 --> 00:24:59,018 which was published in 1789. 460 00:24:59,149 --> 00:25:00,409 His autobiography. 461 00:25:00,542 --> 00:25:01,672 - A first edition. - First edition. 462 00:25:01,804 --> 00:25:04,204 That's incredible. 463 00:25:04,328 --> 00:25:07,108 How did he make the transition from a slave 464 00:25:07,244 --> 00:25:09,124 to being a published author 465 00:25:09,246 --> 00:25:11,246 who was influencing public opinion in Britain? 466 00:25:11,379 --> 00:25:13,159 It's an extraordinary story. 467 00:25:13,294 --> 00:25:14,694 He traveled up and down the Caribbean 468 00:25:14,817 --> 00:25:16,117 as a slave on a ship, 469 00:25:16,253 --> 00:25:17,823 a lot of Africans are making money 470 00:25:17,951 --> 00:25:19,781 on the edges of the slave system 471 00:25:19,909 --> 00:25:21,819 and he actually buys his own freedom. 472 00:25:21,955 --> 00:25:24,305 He has the cash to buy his own freedom. 473 00:25:24,435 --> 00:25:26,215 What story does he tell in this book? 474 00:25:26,350 --> 00:25:27,920 It's a story of violence. 475 00:25:28,048 --> 00:25:29,788 It's a story of exploitation. 476 00:25:29,919 --> 00:25:32,309 It's a story of cruelty on a monumental scale. 477 00:25:32,443 --> 00:25:33,753 It's a denunciation of slavery 478 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,840 through the eyes of one man. 479 00:25:35,969 --> 00:25:38,539 And through the story of his own individual life. 480 00:25:38,667 --> 00:25:41,887 He is opening people's eyes to what it is like 481 00:25:42,018 --> 00:25:44,148 for an African to endure the slave trade and slavery. 482 00:25:52,333 --> 00:25:54,073 Right now it's the lowest tide of the year 483 00:25:54,204 --> 00:25:56,164 in Rapparee Cove. 484 00:25:56,293 --> 00:25:58,383 The water level is 50 feet lower 485 00:25:58,513 --> 00:26:01,823 than it usually is during high tide. 486 00:26:01,951 --> 00:26:04,911 The boats in the harbor are literally grounded. 487 00:26:05,041 --> 00:26:07,961 And while we're strategizing for our next dive, 488 00:26:08,088 --> 00:26:11,178 the archeologists are in a race against the incoming tide. 489 00:26:15,399 --> 00:26:16,839 The targets closest to the shoreline 490 00:26:16,966 --> 00:26:19,316 are at the highest priority right now 491 00:26:19,447 --> 00:26:21,447 because these areas will only be accessible 492 00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:23,710 for a little over an hour before the tide comes back in. 493 00:26:31,241 --> 00:26:34,421 I've been coming to this cove for nearly 50 years. 494 00:26:34,549 --> 00:26:37,329 When I come down here, I come down to other look 495 00:26:37,465 --> 00:26:41,245 to see what's around and I pick up whatever's there. 496 00:26:41,382 --> 00:26:44,522 The vision of the wreck wrecking on the rocks in this cove, 497 00:26:44,646 --> 00:26:47,036 have been in my mind for many, many years. 498 00:26:47,170 --> 00:26:49,000 And I was looking for the story. 499 00:26:49,129 --> 00:26:50,739 Who were the people on board and what happened to them? 500 00:26:53,481 --> 00:26:54,611 20 years ago, I was involved 501 00:26:54,743 --> 00:26:58,093 with one of the most shocking finds in this cove: 502 00:26:58,225 --> 00:26:59,435 human remains. 503 00:26:59,574 --> 00:27:03,064 I saw finger bones 504 00:27:03,186 --> 00:27:05,356 and I found a fragment of a skull 505 00:27:05,493 --> 00:27:08,023 and three teeth sticking out of that bank. 506 00:27:13,327 --> 00:27:15,417 I felt in my heart, I was convinced 507 00:27:15,546 --> 00:27:18,156 it was from one of the slaves. 508 00:27:18,288 --> 00:27:20,858 I started digging into old documents 509 00:27:20,987 --> 00:27:22,947 and I discovered shocking descriptions 510 00:27:23,076 --> 00:27:25,296 of the morning after the ship had foundered, 511 00:27:25,426 --> 00:27:27,206 when dozens of bodies of Africans 512 00:27:27,341 --> 00:27:28,781 littered the beach. 513 00:27:33,477 --> 00:27:35,517 The morning after, the local population came down 514 00:27:35,654 --> 00:27:38,094 to try to bury these bodies 515 00:27:38,221 --> 00:27:39,271 because they thought they should do it 516 00:27:39,396 --> 00:27:40,956 because of their religious convictions. 517 00:27:41,094 --> 00:27:42,314 They started to move the bodies 518 00:27:42,443 --> 00:27:44,053 and then the tide dropped back a bit 519 00:27:44,184 --> 00:27:46,884 and then exposed a load of gold that came from a treasure chest. 520 00:27:47,013 --> 00:27:48,973 It was tipped out of the rowing boat. 521 00:27:52,758 --> 00:27:54,318 So they all rushed to the gold and left the bodies. 522 00:28:03,420 --> 00:28:05,510 While we wait for the tide to come up in Ilfracombe, 523 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:07,080 Richard and I have taken a small team 524 00:28:07,207 --> 00:28:09,687 to the nearby Isles of Scilly. 525 00:28:09,818 --> 00:28:11,388 Here lie the remains of an English ship 526 00:28:11,515 --> 00:28:13,165 called "The Douro." 527 00:28:13,300 --> 00:28:17,170 It went down at 1843, well past the time 528 00:28:17,304 --> 00:28:19,924 that the slave trade and slavery were abolished 529 00:28:20,046 --> 00:28:23,216 throughout the British empire. 530 00:28:23,353 --> 00:28:24,923 In the case of "The Douro," 531 00:28:25,051 --> 00:28:26,361 as with thousands of other ships, 532 00:28:26,487 --> 00:28:28,707 it is suspected that it continued 533 00:28:28,837 --> 00:28:32,407 to illegally traffic and enslave Africans. 534 00:28:32,536 --> 00:28:34,796 We're here to find evidence to support this claim. 535 00:28:37,672 --> 00:28:38,982 So "The Douro" 536 00:28:39,108 --> 00:28:40,588 was supposed to have hit the rock 537 00:28:40,719 --> 00:28:41,889 that can just see breaking there. 538 00:28:42,024 --> 00:28:43,504 That round rock. 539 00:28:43,634 --> 00:28:44,294 It's probably foundered on the reef, 540 00:28:44,418 --> 00:28:45,718 just behind us here. 541 00:28:45,854 --> 00:28:48,164 We need to try and find the manillas if we can, 542 00:28:48,291 --> 00:28:50,291 see if we can find this currency that was used in slave trade. 543 00:29:02,131 --> 00:29:04,261 Visibility is probably only one to two meters, 544 00:29:04,394 --> 00:29:06,964 which is not great down here. 545 00:29:14,100 --> 00:29:17,360 I can see what looks like 546 00:29:17,494 --> 00:29:19,984 the first prong of the anchor. 547 00:29:24,501 --> 00:29:26,071 So, it's very large-- 548 00:29:26,199 --> 00:29:27,329 Larger than I thought it would be. 549 00:29:39,473 --> 00:29:40,913 We are now going to focus on the manilla. 550 00:29:50,223 --> 00:29:52,403 Kinga is searching around with a metal detector. 551 00:29:59,232 --> 00:30:02,632 It looks like she's got something. 552 00:30:02,757 --> 00:30:05,237 It could be the right shape. 553 00:30:08,197 --> 00:30:09,677 And yeah, she's pieced them together. 554 00:30:09,808 --> 00:30:12,898 You can see that is a piece of manilla that Kinga's found. 555 00:30:22,342 --> 00:30:24,652 We actually, we found a manila 556 00:30:24,779 --> 00:30:28,439 with the metal detector, underneath the sand, 557 00:30:28,565 --> 00:30:30,045 right by the anchor. 558 00:30:30,176 --> 00:30:35,436 In two pieces, it's broken, some manila. 559 00:30:35,572 --> 00:30:36,702 Here's what "The Douro" was carrying 560 00:30:36,835 --> 00:30:38,485 when it went down in 1843. 561 00:30:38,619 --> 00:30:40,399 So this essentially proves 562 00:30:40,534 --> 00:30:43,194 that even after slavery was banned, 563 00:30:43,319 --> 00:30:46,499 that ship was taking a currency that was used 564 00:30:46,627 --> 00:30:47,797 to trade for human lives. 565 00:30:47,933 --> 00:30:49,723 It's hard comprehend slavery isn't it? 566 00:30:49,848 --> 00:30:51,678 In this world, and the freedom that we have, 567 00:30:51,806 --> 00:30:55,326 but that's just, it's quite poignant. Right? 568 00:30:55,462 --> 00:30:57,292 Unbelievable. 569 00:30:57,420 --> 00:31:00,600 This was something that was equal in value 570 00:31:00,728 --> 00:31:06,868 to a human being who, who laughs and dreams. 571 00:31:06,995 --> 00:31:09,215 There were thousands of these aboard "The Douro" 572 00:31:09,345 --> 00:31:11,475 when they were all taken in the West African coast 573 00:31:11,608 --> 00:31:14,958 and each one of these was traded for a human life. 574 00:31:23,707 --> 00:31:26,227 The story of emancipation during the civil war, 575 00:31:26,362 --> 00:31:29,632 was a mosaic of thousands of individual acts. 576 00:31:29,757 --> 00:31:32,107 But one story stands out. 577 00:31:32,238 --> 00:31:34,978 It took place here in Charleston Harbor, 578 00:31:35,110 --> 00:31:36,720 a great terminus 579 00:31:36,851 --> 00:31:38,811 of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. 580 00:31:38,940 --> 00:31:40,770 It's the spot, where almost half 581 00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:43,679 of all the enslaved Africans who came to America 582 00:31:43,814 --> 00:31:45,164 throughout the course of the entire 583 00:31:45,294 --> 00:31:46,864 transatlantic slave trade, 584 00:31:46,992 --> 00:31:48,342 where they took their first steps. 585 00:31:48,471 --> 00:31:50,171 Right here is called Gadsden's Wharf. 586 00:31:50,299 --> 00:31:51,909 It was the largest wharf in the colonies. 587 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,220 It was the spot where more enslaved Africans landed 588 00:31:55,348 --> 00:31:58,918 and were sold than any other place in the country. 589 00:32:03,834 --> 00:32:07,364 It became really the epicenter of slavery. 590 00:32:17,022 --> 00:32:19,242 There's a greater than 99% probability 591 00:32:19,372 --> 00:32:21,422 that all living African Americans 592 00:32:21,548 --> 00:32:24,118 have at least one relative who landed here. 593 00:32:33,690 --> 00:32:35,740 And your great- great-grandfather. 594 00:32:35,866 --> 00:32:38,126 He was once a slave here? 595 00:32:38,260 --> 00:32:40,220 Yeah, my great, great grandfather. 596 00:32:40,349 --> 00:32:42,259 His name was Robert Smalls. 597 00:32:42,395 --> 00:32:44,305 He is commonly known as one of the first heroes 598 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,490 of the civil war. 599 00:32:47,617 --> 00:32:51,397 He was born on April 5th, 1839 in Buford, South Carolina. 600 00:32:51,534 --> 00:32:56,674 Eventually became a laborer on a boat called "The Planter." 601 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,460 And over the years, because he had the ability, 602 00:33:00,587 --> 00:33:04,807 he ended up becoming the pilot of that boat. 603 00:33:04,939 --> 00:33:07,589 When the civil war broke out, he got his family 604 00:33:07,724 --> 00:33:09,074 and the crew and their families 605 00:33:09,204 --> 00:33:10,554 and head out. 606 00:33:10,684 --> 00:33:12,214 There was a federal blockade just outside 607 00:33:12,338 --> 00:33:14,248 the mouth of the harbor. 608 00:33:14,383 --> 00:33:16,433 And he knew that if he could get there, 609 00:33:16,559 --> 00:33:18,999 that he'd be free. 610 00:33:19,127 --> 00:33:22,347 Robert put on the top hat and the long coat 611 00:33:22,478 --> 00:33:26,348 of a Confederate captain, he knew all the passcodes, 612 00:33:26,482 --> 00:33:27,832 blowing the whistle. 613 00:33:30,095 --> 00:33:32,615 There were about five forts that he had to sail past, 614 00:33:32,749 --> 00:33:35,669 including the most dangerous and the biggest here, 615 00:33:35,796 --> 00:33:40,016 Fort Sumpter, where the civil war began. 616 00:33:40,148 --> 00:33:42,848 They had to sail past the range of the cannons 617 00:33:42,977 --> 00:33:44,327 in Fort Sumpter. 618 00:33:44,457 --> 00:33:45,977 And so they got a bit further down, 619 00:33:46,111 --> 00:33:48,851 so they were beyond the range and they quickly lowered 620 00:33:48,983 --> 00:33:50,593 the Confederate flag and they were free. 621 00:33:53,031 --> 00:33:54,771 Because of his bravery 622 00:33:54,902 --> 00:33:57,562 and the capture of an enemy vessel for the Union, 623 00:33:57,687 --> 00:34:01,777 Smalls became a national hero. 624 00:34:01,909 --> 00:34:04,349 With the money he was awarded for delivering "The Planter," 625 00:34:04,477 --> 00:34:06,517 he eventually bought the southern home 626 00:34:06,653 --> 00:34:08,613 he grew up in as a slave. 627 00:34:14,356 --> 00:34:16,316 - 511. - That's it. 628 00:34:16,445 --> 00:34:18,055 This is it. 511 Prince street. 629 00:34:18,186 --> 00:34:20,146 It's actually everything I would have imagined 630 00:34:20,275 --> 00:34:21,795 a southern house. 631 00:34:21,929 --> 00:34:22,799 Yeah. It's a beautiful home. 632 00:34:27,021 --> 00:34:28,721 - It's very homey. - Yeah. It's beautiful. 633 00:34:28,849 --> 00:34:31,239 Generations of your family, right? 634 00:34:31,373 --> 00:34:32,773 Absolutely. 635 00:34:32,896 --> 00:34:35,676 Going back to my great, great, great grandmother. 636 00:34:38,467 --> 00:34:40,207 So this is it. This is the bedroom. 637 00:34:40,339 --> 00:34:42,519 After the war he's here. 638 00:34:42,645 --> 00:34:44,515 Apparently hears a knock on the door, 639 00:34:44,647 --> 00:34:47,387 opens the door and there's Jane Bold McKee. 640 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,390 Jane was the wife of his masters, former master. 641 00:34:51,524 --> 00:34:54,794 And she was ill, mentally ill, physically ill 642 00:34:54,918 --> 00:34:56,878 and thought she was coming home to her house, 643 00:34:57,007 --> 00:34:59,357 thought that she was going to resume life 644 00:34:59,488 --> 00:35:02,058 in the way that she had lived it. 645 00:35:02,187 --> 00:35:05,667 And Robert embraced her, brought her in 646 00:35:05,799 --> 00:35:09,239 and took care of her for the remaining months 647 00:35:09,368 --> 00:35:11,848 of her life. 648 00:35:11,979 --> 00:35:14,939 He allowed her to live in the master bedroom 649 00:35:15,069 --> 00:35:18,329 and they catered to her. 650 00:35:18,464 --> 00:35:20,774 He was owned by this woman. 651 00:35:20,901 --> 00:35:24,471 He was treated as a piece of property, 652 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,950 but yet he had the humanity in him to bring her in 653 00:35:28,082 --> 00:35:29,742 and to care for her. 654 00:35:29,866 --> 00:35:31,516 So. 655 00:35:31,651 --> 00:35:34,391 What a gesture, what a man. 656 00:35:34,523 --> 00:35:37,743 Robert smalls became a Congressman 657 00:35:37,874 --> 00:35:41,274 and would later be remembered as the father of public education 658 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:42,580 in the United States. 659 00:35:55,718 --> 00:35:57,978 The tide's coming very fast now. 660 00:35:58,112 --> 00:36:03,422 So we have to pick up the pace if we want to find something. 661 00:36:03,552 --> 00:36:05,822 We're hoping to find wrought iron, 662 00:36:05,946 --> 00:36:08,506 the old form of metal. 663 00:36:08,644 --> 00:36:10,784 "The London's" wooden hull would have been reinforced 664 00:36:10,907 --> 00:36:12,257 by that kind of iron. 665 00:36:12,387 --> 00:36:14,347 There's all this iron standing all over the water 666 00:36:14,476 --> 00:36:17,036 and all over the rock. 667 00:36:17,175 --> 00:36:19,865 I need to get a second pair of hands in here. 668 00:36:20,003 --> 00:36:22,833 But then finally, we got to one of the targets. 669 00:36:22,963 --> 00:36:24,573 I don't know. What do you think it is? 670 00:36:24,704 --> 00:36:26,364 That's angle iron, 20th century. 671 00:36:26,488 --> 00:36:27,748 Come on, We haven't got long Patrick. 672 00:36:32,015 --> 00:36:33,015 It would be buried. 673 00:36:33,147 --> 00:36:35,407 It's a coin, but I'm afraid it's modern. 674 00:36:35,541 --> 00:36:36,801 It's got a picture of the queen on the back. 675 00:36:36,933 --> 00:36:38,413 About there, come on chaps. 676 00:36:47,727 --> 00:36:50,297 But then our efforts pay off. 677 00:36:56,953 --> 00:36:58,873 Whoa! 678 00:36:58,999 --> 00:37:01,519 So this is a great lump of iron. 679 00:37:01,654 --> 00:37:03,484 And you can tell that it's made out of wrought iron. 680 00:37:03,612 --> 00:37:05,532 Yeah. And what's happened at the end here? 681 00:37:05,658 --> 00:37:07,878 It's been bent and it's been torn. 682 00:37:08,008 --> 00:37:09,578 That wouldn't have been made like that. 683 00:37:09,705 --> 00:37:10,705 It's been thumped. 684 00:37:14,014 --> 00:37:15,414 Like in a wreck. 685 00:37:21,761 --> 00:37:23,721 And it's exactly the right size from a ship isn't it? 686 00:37:23,850 --> 00:37:26,070 Yes, yes. 687 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,030 If we took it like this, we put it underneath, 688 00:37:28,158 --> 00:37:29,378 you would just see how it would fit 689 00:37:29,508 --> 00:37:30,808 underneath some rigging. 690 00:37:36,384 --> 00:37:39,264 This iron is from the time period of "The London." 691 00:37:39,387 --> 00:37:41,607 I mean, wrought iron is spot on for this date. 692 00:37:41,737 --> 00:37:43,607 It's our right time period. 693 00:37:43,739 --> 00:37:47,919 We actually got preserved here, a kind of frozen moment in time 694 00:37:48,048 --> 00:37:50,748 when "The London" is being smashed up 695 00:37:50,877 --> 00:37:53,527 against the rocks behind us, 696 00:37:53,662 --> 00:37:55,712 and is actually twisting this strap. 697 00:38:01,191 --> 00:38:04,371 And hold it. Surprisingly heavy. 698 00:38:39,186 --> 00:38:42,226 Ghana, in West Africa, was one of the main 699 00:38:42,363 --> 00:38:43,973 areas from where captured Africans were trafficked 700 00:38:44,104 --> 00:38:44,894 and enslaved. 701 00:38:56,769 --> 00:38:58,809 After centuries of the slave trade, 702 00:38:58,945 --> 00:39:00,505 abolitionists tried to show Europeans 703 00:39:00,642 --> 00:39:02,512 and people in the New World, 704 00:39:02,644 --> 00:39:03,864 that the Africans among them 705 00:39:03,993 --> 00:39:05,733 were human beings like them. 706 00:39:12,393 --> 00:39:15,223 The memory of the millions who perished on the voyages 707 00:39:15,353 --> 00:39:17,493 across the ocean has been lost. 708 00:39:20,140 --> 00:39:22,660 Ghanaian artist, Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, 709 00:39:22,795 --> 00:39:25,095 is trying to resurrect that forgotten part of history. 710 00:39:35,764 --> 00:39:36,944 Kwame? 711 00:39:37,070 --> 00:39:38,160 Hello, Mr. Jackson. 712 00:39:38,288 --> 00:39:39,938 Sam, man. 713 00:39:40,073 --> 00:39:41,643 So let's look at what you got. 714 00:39:41,770 --> 00:39:43,120 Okay. 715 00:39:46,471 --> 00:39:47,171 Are these just normally out like this? 716 00:39:47,297 --> 00:39:48,777 Yeah. 717 00:39:50,649 --> 00:39:51,389 Wow. 718 00:39:58,221 --> 00:39:59,091 - All right. 719 00:40:05,272 --> 00:40:07,842 So this is a story of the people who were on those ships. 720 00:40:07,970 --> 00:40:09,060 Yeah. 721 00:40:09,189 --> 00:40:10,539 So right ahead... 722 00:40:19,112 --> 00:40:20,722 How many are out here now? 723 00:40:23,159 --> 00:40:24,159 Wow. 724 00:40:43,223 --> 00:40:44,573 Mm-hmm 725 00:40:53,189 --> 00:40:54,099 Mm-hmm 726 00:40:58,934 --> 00:41:00,114 So, who are these faces? 727 00:41:11,860 --> 00:41:12,470 Mm-hmm 728 00:41:32,794 --> 00:41:34,364 Yeah. 729 00:41:34,492 --> 00:41:36,022 It's crazy 'cause I can just look 730 00:41:36,145 --> 00:41:37,755 in just one section right here, 731 00:41:37,886 --> 00:41:41,496 and I can identify people that I know. 732 00:42:10,528 --> 00:42:13,528 Now that the tide is up, we're back in the water. 733 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,150 One big piece of the puzzle is still missing for me. 734 00:42:20,276 --> 00:42:23,886 Why did Captain Robertson, the captain of "The London," 735 00:42:24,019 --> 00:42:26,849 refuse to accept refuge in the nearby harbor? 736 00:42:34,029 --> 00:42:35,899 Mallory has plotted to dive a little further out 737 00:42:36,031 --> 00:42:38,431 in the ocean this time, as the wreckage of "The London" 738 00:42:38,556 --> 00:42:40,686 may have drifted away from land over time. 739 00:42:53,266 --> 00:42:55,046 Then, there it was. 740 00:42:55,181 --> 00:42:58,011 It was this huge object. 741 00:42:58,140 --> 00:43:01,800 It was an old mooring anchor, positioned outside the harbor, 742 00:43:01,927 --> 00:43:04,487 providing incoming ships stability out at sea. 743 00:43:04,625 --> 00:43:06,845 It's make and design correspond 744 00:43:06,975 --> 00:43:08,625 with the timeline of "The London," 745 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:11,150 and some of the local records mention the mooring anchor 746 00:43:11,284 --> 00:43:12,684 being out there at the time. 747 00:43:15,331 --> 00:43:17,511 I saw it, and I thought, 748 00:43:17,638 --> 00:43:20,468 "Hold on." Now I know why Captain Robertson 749 00:43:20,598 --> 00:43:22,338 came out to Rapparee Cove 750 00:43:22,469 --> 00:43:24,299 instead of going into the harbor. 751 00:43:24,427 --> 00:43:27,207 He wanted to tie himself to the mooring anchor. 752 00:43:27,343 --> 00:43:29,353 He wanted safety without scrutiny. 753 00:43:36,701 --> 00:43:39,271 And I think I know exactly what he was afraid of. 754 00:43:44,578 --> 00:43:46,968 So, from what I've been reading and researching, 755 00:43:47,102 --> 00:43:50,632 I think a reason why the captain may have been 756 00:43:50,758 --> 00:43:53,328 apprehensive about coming into Ilfracombe 757 00:43:53,456 --> 00:43:56,066 is because four years earlier, there was this case, 758 00:43:56,198 --> 00:43:58,548 Captain Kimber. 759 00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:01,119 He had done something terrible. 760 00:44:12,388 --> 00:44:14,428 You're out on a ship. 761 00:44:14,564 --> 00:44:16,314 You have your slaves down below 762 00:44:16,436 --> 00:44:20,436 in really inhumane terrible conditions. 763 00:44:20,570 --> 00:44:23,620 And they need the slaves to arrive strong. 764 00:44:23,748 --> 00:44:25,878 And they would, what you call, "Dance the slaves." 765 00:44:34,628 --> 00:44:37,888 And there was this girl, 766 00:44:41,113 --> 00:44:43,993 this slave girl. 767 00:44:44,116 --> 00:44:46,336 This girl, as it was reported, was Christian, 768 00:44:46,466 --> 00:44:49,816 and she had been ordered to take off her clothes and dance, 769 00:44:49,948 --> 00:44:50,778 and she didn't want to. 770 00:44:50,905 --> 00:44:52,335 Obviously not... 771 00:44:54,779 --> 00:44:57,909 And Captain Kimber wasn't going to have any of this. 772 00:45:14,146 --> 00:45:17,666 He tore her clothes from her, tied her ankle to a rope 773 00:45:17,802 --> 00:45:20,372 from the mast, pulled her up and down. 774 00:45:41,129 --> 00:45:45,439 Over and over and over and over, until she died. 775 00:45:45,568 --> 00:45:47,218 He killed her that way. 776 00:45:53,141 --> 00:45:58,411 The surgeon saw this and was horrified. 777 00:45:58,538 --> 00:46:00,978 When they got back, 778 00:46:01,106 --> 00:46:02,976 the surgeon reported this. 779 00:46:03,108 --> 00:46:05,068 He couldn't stay quiet. 780 00:46:05,197 --> 00:46:08,547 And at that point, the tide started to turn, 781 00:46:08,678 --> 00:46:10,548 and there was a cartoon drawn 782 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:12,380 of this girl being dropped on the deck, 783 00:46:12,508 --> 00:46:14,768 and Captain Kimber is watching. 784 00:46:14,902 --> 00:46:18,382 And this was in the homes of many, many, many Englishmen, 785 00:46:18,514 --> 00:46:22,084 and they saw this girl as a human. 786 00:46:22,214 --> 00:46:25,094 And so, Captain Kimber went to trial. 787 00:46:25,217 --> 00:46:26,387 And this had never been heard of before, 788 00:46:26,522 --> 00:46:27,522 and everybody was watching. 789 00:46:27,654 --> 00:46:31,484 This was a really big case. 790 00:46:31,614 --> 00:46:35,184 But unfortunately, he was acquitted. 791 00:46:35,314 --> 00:46:38,804 However, it became the catalyst of, 792 00:46:38,926 --> 00:46:41,926 "You need to treat slaves like they're people 793 00:46:42,060 --> 00:46:43,580 and not like they're cargo." 794 00:46:43,713 --> 00:46:45,063 And I think that's exactly why 795 00:46:45,193 --> 00:46:47,283 the Captain of "The London" was hesitant 796 00:46:47,413 --> 00:46:49,153 to come into harbor. 797 00:46:49,284 --> 00:46:52,684 Who knows how this captain had been treating his slaves? 798 00:46:52,810 --> 00:46:57,080 Maybe there was something he wanted to hide. 799 00:46:57,205 --> 00:46:59,815 He had re-enslaved free people, 800 00:46:59,947 --> 00:47:02,817 and the world was not going to sit back and ignore it anymore. 801 00:47:13,395 --> 00:47:15,615 Hi. 802 00:47:15,745 --> 00:47:17,355 Suddenly, my cousin and her family come along 803 00:47:17,486 --> 00:47:19,136 to surprise me. 804 00:47:19,271 --> 00:47:21,401 I recognized your face easily from up there. 805 00:47:21,534 --> 00:47:23,064 Who's this? 806 00:47:23,188 --> 00:47:25,448 Who's this? It's Josh. 807 00:47:25,581 --> 00:47:27,451 My father is originally from here, 808 00:47:27,583 --> 00:47:30,063 and my mom is from The Bahamas, where I'm from. 809 00:47:30,195 --> 00:47:31,665 I've never met my cousins in person before. 810 00:47:31,805 --> 00:47:33,625 I've seen pictures. 811 00:47:33,763 --> 00:47:35,333 I have no recollection of this, so this is kind of me 812 00:47:35,461 --> 00:47:37,941 meeting all of you for the first time, really. 813 00:47:38,072 --> 00:47:38,732 - Yeah. - Great. 814 00:47:38,856 --> 00:47:41,156 This is absolutely crazy. 815 00:47:41,293 --> 00:47:43,643 After all these diving missions we've gone through, 816 00:47:43,773 --> 00:47:46,653 and the research we've done all over the world, 817 00:47:46,776 --> 00:47:49,336 finally both sides of my mixed heritage 818 00:47:49,475 --> 00:47:51,125 have become real for me. 819 00:47:53,087 --> 00:47:54,647 That is so cool. 820 00:47:54,784 --> 00:47:56,004 I've only seen you guys in pictures. 821 00:48:03,706 --> 00:48:06,186 For the past few years, we dove and investigated 822 00:48:06,318 --> 00:48:09,148 sunken slave ships all over the world. 823 00:48:09,277 --> 00:48:11,107 And now, hearing of our work, 824 00:48:11,236 --> 00:48:13,626 we've been invited to Washington, D.C. 825 00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,110 to meet a very special person, 826 00:48:16,241 --> 00:48:18,031 the legendary civil rights leader, 827 00:48:18,156 --> 00:48:20,546 Congressman John Lewis. 828 00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,340 How many times have you been arrested? 829 00:48:23,465 --> 00:48:27,465 During the '60s, I got arrested 40 times 830 00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:29,520 for sitting in 831 00:48:29,645 --> 00:48:32,385 at lunch counters and restaurants, 832 00:48:32,518 --> 00:48:34,688 going on the freedom ride. 833 00:48:34,824 --> 00:48:35,614 We were arrested, we were jailed, 834 00:48:35,738 --> 00:48:37,218 we were beaten, 835 00:48:37,349 --> 00:48:39,129 we were left bloody, left unconscious. 836 00:48:39,264 --> 00:48:41,574 Just by sitting in places 837 00:48:41,701 --> 00:48:44,011 that only white people were supposed to. 838 00:48:44,138 --> 00:48:46,228 Just that. 839 00:48:46,358 --> 00:48:48,488 You remember the first time you were arrested? 840 00:48:48,621 --> 00:48:50,061 I remember the first time ever arrested. 841 00:48:50,188 --> 00:48:51,318 Right. 842 00:48:51,450 --> 00:48:53,020 I can never, ever forget it. 843 00:48:53,147 --> 00:48:54,187 I felt free. 844 00:48:54,322 --> 00:48:55,802 Free? 845 00:48:55,933 --> 00:48:59,073 I felt liberated because my mother and my father 846 00:48:59,197 --> 00:49:01,287 and grandparents had said, 847 00:49:01,416 --> 00:49:03,286 "Stay out of trouble. Don't get in trouble." 848 00:49:03,418 --> 00:49:05,938 And I got in trouble. 849 00:49:06,073 --> 00:49:10,433 What I call good trouble, necessary trouble. 850 00:49:10,556 --> 00:49:13,596 I didn't quite understand my own history, 851 00:49:13,733 --> 00:49:16,433 and I have so many questions that, 852 00:49:16,562 --> 00:49:19,172 each time I go diving, 853 00:49:19,304 --> 00:49:21,524 some of it gets answered. 854 00:49:21,654 --> 00:49:24,144 We dove and saw 855 00:49:24,265 --> 00:49:27,225 relics, remnants of the chaos, 856 00:49:27,355 --> 00:49:31,135 of the brutality, of the abuse. 857 00:49:31,272 --> 00:49:34,492 Sometimes it's just too much, 858 00:49:34,623 --> 00:49:37,713 but we have to tell this story. 859 00:49:37,844 --> 00:49:39,894 This story needs to be told. 860 00:49:40,020 --> 00:49:43,760 And that's where I guess I'm stuck. 861 00:49:43,893 --> 00:49:45,593 Right? 862 00:49:45,721 --> 00:49:47,331 All of the places that we've been, 863 00:49:47,462 --> 00:49:51,602 you can see the beauty of it, and the wonder of it. 864 00:49:51,727 --> 00:49:55,117 You see these islands or shorelines. 865 00:49:55,253 --> 00:49:57,393 When we were in Suriname, 866 00:49:57,516 --> 00:49:59,736 we're standing on the shoreline 867 00:49:59,866 --> 00:50:03,386 of the most beautiful scenery 868 00:50:03,522 --> 00:50:05,572 that you ever wanted to see. 869 00:50:05,698 --> 00:50:09,308 But to know that 680 Africans were murdered 870 00:50:09,441 --> 00:50:12,231 within a couple of hundred yards of the shoreline, 871 00:50:12,357 --> 00:50:15,227 I'm conflicted all the time. 872 00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:16,970 I understand very well what you're saying. 873 00:50:17,101 --> 00:50:18,711 And we cannot sweep it under the rug. 874 00:50:18,841 --> 00:50:20,101 We've got to bring it all out. 875 00:50:20,234 --> 00:50:22,324 Make it plain. 876 00:50:22,454 --> 00:50:25,154 And we have an obligation, a mission, 877 00:50:25,283 --> 00:50:28,203 a mandate to do just that. 878 00:50:28,329 --> 00:50:31,199 So the whole world can feel this. 879 00:50:36,424 --> 00:50:37,904 Keep the faith. Don't give up. 880 00:50:38,035 --> 00:50:39,465 - No, sir. - Never that.