Shackles From the Deep
Tracing the Path of a Sunken Slave Ship, a Bitter Past, and a Rich Legacy
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A pile of lime-encrusted shackles discovered on the seafloor in the remains of a ship called the Henrietta Marie, lands Michael Cottman, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and avid scuba diver, in the middle of an amazing journey that stretches across three continents, from foundries and tombs in England, to slave ports on the shores of West Africa, to present-day Caribbean plantations. This is more than just the story of one ship – it's the untold story of millions of people taken as captives to the New World. Told from the author's perspective, this book introduces young readers to the wonders of diving, detective work, and discovery, while shedding light on the history of slavery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this accessible and very personal account, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and scuba diver Cottman travels to the Caribbean, England, and West Africa as he retraces the route of a sunken slave ship, the Henrietta Marie, whose iron shackles kindle an "emotional journey. I had a deep yearning to know more about the oppressed African people aboard." Cottman's angered efforts to understand how the slave trade could be "simply business" drives his quest as he visits the grave of the shackle maker, Gor e Island in Senegal, and a Jamaican banana-packing farm. Cottman's attunement to his emotional state is never far from the surface: "I knew it was unusual, but I had this strange sense that, whether or not these people were actually distantly related to me, they were my family," he reports. "In the face of so much despair, cruelty, and sadness, these people and I were all connected because we had survived. Our people had survived." A timeline, map, color photo insert, index, and additional resources round out this chilling exploration of the slave trade, along with a pitch for the "next generation of young adventure-seekers" to consider scuba diving. Ages 10 up.
