Emergencies and World Disasters
They Closed the Hatches: 600 Lives Buried by the Sea
23 min•30 juli 2026
Om avsnittet
They Closed the Hatches: 600 Lives Buried by the Sea
The ocean kept proof when paper would not: in 1790 a French ship, L'Aurore, went down off Mozambique with more than 600 enslaved Africans locked below deck, and every one drowned in darkness. How did four lost slave ships - sunk, burned, scuttled or erased - become the very archive historians and descendants use to reclaim names and lives?
In this episode, we trace the material evidence recovered from multiple wrecks and the work of the Slave Wrecks Project to show what survived the trade's official record. We follow discoveries from the iron ballast and shackles on the seafloor to artifacts now held in museums - so what do these fragments tell us about the people the archives tried to erase?
Person: More than 600 enslaved Africans (L'Aurore)
Date: 1790
Event: L'Aurore sank off the coast of Mozambique with hatches closed
Project: Slave Wrecks Project founded 2008 (African Slave Wrecks and Diaspora Heritage Routes Project)
Ship: São José Paquete d'África carried 512 captive Mozambicans in 1794 and sank off Cape Town
- L'Aurore: over 600 people locked below deck and drowned in 1790.
- São José: documented cargo of 512 captive Mozambicans lost in 1794; wreck confirmed after archival work beginning 2013.
- Slave Wrecks Project: founded in 2008; by 2023 operating across six countries including Mozambique, Brazil and the United States.
- Artifacts from São José: iron ballast and shackles matched records and are now held in Washington, D.C. and Cape Town.
- Clotilda: in 1860s more than 100 people were illegally transported to Mobile Bay, then the ship was scuttled and burned to destroy evidence.
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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
The ocean kept proof when paper would not: in 1790 a French ship, L'Aurore, went down off Mozambique with more than 600 enslaved Africans locked below deck, and every one drowned in darkness. How did four lost slave ships - sunk, burned, scuttled or erased - become the very archive historians and descendants use to reclaim names and lives?
In this episode, we trace the material evidence recovered from multiple wrecks and the work of the Slave Wrecks Project to show what survived the trade's official record. We follow discoveries from the iron ballast and shackles on the seafloor to artifacts now held in museums - so what do these fragments tell us about the people the archives tried to erase?
Person: More than 600 enslaved Africans (L'Aurore)
Date: 1790
Event: L'Aurore sank off the coast of Mozambique with hatches closed
Project: Slave Wrecks Project founded 2008 (African Slave Wrecks and Diaspora Heritage Routes Project)
Ship: São José Paquete d'África carried 512 captive Mozambicans in 1794 and sank off Cape Town
- L'Aurore: over 600 people locked below deck and drowned in 1790.
- São José: documented cargo of 512 captive Mozambicans lost in 1794; wreck confirmed after archival work beginning 2013.
- Slave Wrecks Project: founded in 2008; by 2023 operating across six countries including Mozambique, Brazil and the United States.
- Artifacts from São José: iron ballast and shackles matched records and are now held in Washington, D.C. and Cape Town.
- Clotilda: in 1860s more than 100 people were illegally transported to Mobile Bay, then the ship was scuttled and burned to destroy evidence.
To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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