Enslaved (2020) s01e01 Episode Script
Cultures Left Behind
1
SAM: Out on the ocean,
looking for sunken slave ships.
♪
[crowd screaming, chain
rattling, whipping noise]
When I began this journey,
I couldn't imagine
that I would be going
back to my roots
[crowd chanting
in native language]
or that I would be
telling the story
of the transatlantic
slave trade.
AFUA: In the governor's bedroom,
there's a trap door in the floor
and it leads into
the women's dungeon,
and he would just have free
access to these women and girls.
SAM: The case of the slaves
was the same as if horses
had been thrown overboard.
SIMCHA: Let me get
this straight.
This is currency created
to buy a human being.
TERRY: One human being.
♪
KRAMER: Hey, Sam,
how you doing, buddy?
- Morning!
- Morning!
I've teamed up with DWP,
Diving With a Purpose.
What a morning, out
here in the high seas.
Ready to get wet, man?
Some of the best underwater
investigators in the world.
MAN: Chris, you ready?
JOSH: All right, thanks
for being here, friend.
- I appreciate it.
- All right, bro.
♪
More than two million of
our ancestors died at sea.
These divers are dedicated
to bring to light
their forgotten story.
KRAMER: England
was involved in it.
Portugal was involved in it.
The Africans were
involved in it.
It's a burial ground
and a crime scene.
ALANNAH: We are raising
the voices of people
who didn't have a voice,
whose voices were also enslaved.
MELODY: We have to
teach our young people
where they came from.
If we don't do it,
no one will, ever.
We only talk about
the ships that made it.
We never talk about
the ones that didn't.
Bring another part of
the history of this world
into focus, because people
just don't talk about it.
What was really going
on with the slave trade?
♪
[sound effect -
metal chain clicking]
♪
For me, it all started
at my cousin Hilda's.
[song by Nina Simone plays]
I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish I could break
all the chains holding me ♪
Hilda's been able to do
something uncommon
for most African Americans:
that I should say,
say 'em loud ♪
trace our lineage back
to the days of slavery.
For the whole round
world to hear ♪
Hey!
♪
Come on. What you got in here?
HILDA: Who is that
young man there?
That's me.
All right. Beautiful picture.
Sam, I want you to look at some
of your history that you have
never seen, and we
want you to know it.
When did you have
time to do all this?
Do you know that
most of the information
in here is by word of mouth?
We followed our ancestry back
from Zoe, LaTanya and Sam.
Then we have Elizabeth and Roy.
Yup.
And we have Aunt Pearl
and Uncle Edgar,
who is Sam's grandfather.
And then we go to Lillie,
who is the mother to Edgar.
And this is Lillie.
Mm-hmm. That's a
picture of Lillie.
And Miles is the father to
Edgar, Uncle Edgar's daddy.
So this is Miles.
Miles Montgomery. That's him.
- Wow.
- Mm-hmm.
And then parents
here, Arthur Branham.
- Arthur was born into slavery.
- Mm-hmm.
So he was three
when slavery ended.
Three years old
when slavery ended.
Three. That's right.
And this is his mother, Matilda.
- Who was a slave.
- Yes, that's right. Mm-hmm.
- Owned by the Branhams?
- Yes.
So they just took
their last name.
- Mm-hmm.
- They just took their names.
ARTHUR: Yes. They
owned a lot of slaves.
They were wealthy.
A Judge Branham is
the one who fathered Arthur.
You can see his
name up there, Joel Branham.
Mm-hmm.
So as far as we know,
we're able to trace our ancestry
back to when our
relatives were enslaved.
♪
I did my DNA ancestry.
And my ancestors
came from Gabon.
And they were from the Benga
tribe and I want to see what
that means in terms of who I am
and where I came from.
So I would like to know more
about how my people lived,
how that played into the
kind of person that I am.
Just trying to
connect to my roots.
And the best place to do that
is here, my ancestral home.
♪
MINISTER NGUEÉMA:
Hi Sam! How are you doing?
I am fine, how are you?
- Welcome to Gabon.
- Thank you.
♪
Let's go.
[crowd singing in native
language, drums]
Oh, my God. This is great.
[singing and music continues]
[indistinct crowd chatter]
[Benga people singing]
[Benga people singing]
A lot of energy!
Let's go!
[singing and music continues]
Okay, thank you.
[singing and music continues]
MINISTER WHITE:
They will initiate you.
It's not like being
jumped into a gang, is it?
- ENENGE: No. A brotherhood.
- It's going to be all right?
- You'll be all right.
- All right, fine.
You will be a real Benga.
[laughing] Anticipation
builds
[laughter]
[both speaking French]
♪
More than 12 million
Africans were enslaved
and trafficked from dozens
of outposts established
along the coast of Africa.
The transatlantic slave trade
existed for well over
300 years and involved
more than 45,000 voyages.
Most ships made it. Many didn't.
In the early 1800s, even after
most countries banned the trade,
illegal trafficking
was continuing.
My ancestors could have
easily ended up on the illegal
Spanish slaver, the "Guerrero."
♪
COREY: The "Guerrero" was
sailing to Cuba with almost
600 African people on board.
They sailed past the Bahamas.
Stationed there was a British
navy ship, the "Nimble."
The "Nimble" was there to
intercept illegal slave ships.
They tried to stop "Guerrero."
"Guerrero" took off.
They got into a chase, they got
into a gun battle.
Eventually, night fell.
Both ships slammed into
the Florida reef
somewhere off Key Largo.
So beneath these waters now are
the puzzle pieces that are gonna
help us reconstruct the story of
these two shipwrecks.
And that's really
become my passion.
I've invited the
DWP team to join me
in the search
for the "Guerrero."
KINGA: Hi, Corey!
Hey, guys. How are you?
You guys ready to do a
little bit of research?
We are!
JOSH: So what is this
story about the "Guerrero"
and why do you think
it's the "Guerrero"?
You know, the story
of "Guerrero" is really
the story of two ships:
"Guerrero," the slave ship, and
then the British navy schooner
that was chasing it.
And they got into a gun battle
and they both smashed
into the reef.
♪
The "Nimble" ran aground and was
able to float itself off
the reef by jettisoning
iron ballasts and cannonballs.
But the slave ship "Guerrero"
crashed into the reef
with such force that it sank.
41 of the captive Africans
on board died.
The "Nimble's" crew said
they could hear the screams
crossing two miles of ocean.
It had been their duty to save
the people on the "Guerrero,"
but instead they
had accidentally
chased them to their doom.
We're going to
find the "Guerrero."
There could be all kinds
of artifacts out there
that are specific
to a slave ship.
So here I have some
things to show you guys.
ALL: Oh!
These are all pieces recovered
from the other wrecks.
So what's this guy?
A tooth extractor.
I remember in school,
we were taught some slaves
wouldn't eat in protest.
They would remove the teeth
so that they could shove food
- Right.
- in their mouth.
Just visualizing that is
absolutely chilling.
That my ancestor could've had
their teeth pulled
to make them eat because
they needed to be strong
in order to be bought.
[gag reflex sound]
And here is the real
telltale artifact.
The essence of the slave
trade: a set of shackles.
These were the iron
restraints designed
to hold people two by two.
Wrists?
Wrists and generally ankles.
You slid this 'U' onto
somebody's ankle.
You took this other 'U', put it
on another person's ankle,
and then those people
were joined together.
It was shackled to two
people 'cause it makes it
way more effective to
keep people from running.
Right. If you're, you know,
hobbled
to somebody else,
you can't swim. You can't run.
- Right.
- You can't move.
It was horrible.
So, I know how I'm
feeling holding something
like this, but this is, um,
it's just a different feeling.
It's hard to articulate.
To just have these
in my hand it just,
it just hits a different note.
I guess you could just see
in my face maybe it's just
No, absolutely.
And there's no denying
the cruelty of it when
you look at those things
- Yeah.
- and you know what they did.
♪
This initiation ceremony
you were telling me about today,
what does it actually
really mean?
For you, specifically, it means
a reintegration
into Benga society.
Your ancestor was
taken from this area,
and you have been separated
from your Benga people
for at least 250 years.
Your coming back, having
identified yourself as a Benga,
through DNA, was something
that was a shock
to the Benga community because
of all the millions of Africans
that left Africa,
to have a person in America
be identified as
Benga was phenomenal.
So to be integrated
into Benga society,
you need to acquire
certain materials.
One is the indigenous torch,
[speaks Benga],
a flyswatter, [speaks Benga],
a cane, and a white cloth.
Okay. So, I gotta go out
and get those things.
Yes, you do.
Okay. All right.
♪
All right. So we're going to
the fabric store first.
What's the fabric for?
The white cloth when
we're communing
with the ancestors, white is
the color of the ancestors
because they have white bones.
And white is the color of sperm.
Oh, Okay. I'm trying
to figure that out.
I wanna grab that.
Oh, yeah which
is the future generations.
Because to procreate, sperm
and the ovum come together.
Mm-hmm.
And the white waves,
in traditional Benga,
the land of the living
and the land of the dead
is separated by a great river.
Mm-hmm.
And so, when you see
the white waves breaking,
it's some of the ancestors
crossing the great river
- Mm-hmm.
- from the land of the dead
to the land of the living.
Okay. So, does this white cloth
have to be a specific size or
Well, it has to be able
to wrap around your body.
Wrap around the body.
Yeah, yeah.
♪
So plain white or fancy white?
What are we talking about?
Plain white, plain
white, about
Plain as in how plain?
A pure white,
because you're going
to be joining the ancestors.
I know. See, this
would be my preference.
But I gotta get
something for a purpose.
- Great.
- About 4 meters.
Show you this.
- I think that's it.
- Ah.
Yeah, that's That's better.
That That that's
gonna be kickin' it.
Looks good. Looks good to me.
You just know how much
that is by looking at it?
You don't have to
measure anything
You just start cutting.
Yes, she says she's
been doing it a long time.
Yeah, I believe it.
This is cool.
- Yeah, cool.
- WOMAN: Very nice.
- Très bien!
- Très bien!
- Right.
- In Benga, "Bwamo."
Bwamo.
♪
My aunt noticed that
you walk like a Benga man,
because walking in the sand
- Mm-hmm.
have a certain gait that,
you know, like you follow.
She said "it's a typical Benga
man walking on the sand,"
which is a good thing.
- Is that what she said?
- Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Well, there you have it.
Stuff we don't know that we
have, but we got it.
[horns honking]
What else do I need?
A fly swatter,
a torch and a cane.
These guys should
have all three.
They're instrument makers,
sculptors, real craftsmen.
♪
They're the experts in
traditional ceremonies,
when the living and the
ancestors come together.
♪
All right, okay
might find what
I'm looking for in here.
- Bonjour.
- FISTON: Bonjour.
[speaks French]
That's something I need, right?
Yes. That's the [speaks Benga],
the fly swatter.
Ah.
[speaks French]
Merci.
[laughs]
- [speaks Benga]
- [repeats phrase]
[laughter]
Is that the torch?
[in French]
So he's going to perform
a little ceremony here.
♪
[speaks French]
Been blessed.
Blessed. That's right.
[speaks French]
Merci. Beautiful!
Okay, thank you very much.
Okay, so I've got the fly
swatter a torch.
So what else do I need?
A cane, right?
A cane
[speaks French]
Now I saw
the canes out there.
Didn't touch me.
But when I came in here,
sitting here watching you play,
and I went, "Aw! Ahhh."
[speaks French]
Okay.
Stayed like
that from the get-go.
I love it the way it is.
Yeah, okay.
And when you came in,
boom, it got to you.
Mm-hmm. Sittin' here
waiting for me then.
It sure is.
[laughter]
[Fiston playing music]
I feel a kinship.
[Fiston playing and singing]
Listening to the music,
I couldn't help thinking that
when millions of Africans went
down with the slave ships,
our rich culture also
went down with them.
[music continues]
And what was lost at sea has
been forgotten for centuries.
♪
ALANNAH: We're eager to
head out and find a sunken
slave ship called
the "Guerrero."
- Hello!
- Kramer!
Kramer!
Senior diver Kramer Wimberley
joins the team.
Now you get to come
play with us!
Yes. I missed you guys.
Corey fills us in on his plan
I think really in order
to find the "Guerrero,"
we're going to have to find
evidence of the "Nimble."
"Nimble" essentially
left a trail.
♪
"Nimble" had run up
onto the reef.
They needed to lighten
their load.
They were able to free
themselves by throwing over
iron ballast blocks and
cannonballs.
They got anchored up, and then
their anchor line parted.
They drifted onto the reef again
and they threw over more
cannonballs, ballasts,
more shot, and a small cannon.
♪
So we're looking for things
that the "Nimble" threw off.
Exactly. Those are our clues.
So the biggest clue we have in
the historical record
in all of this is the position
of the "Nimble" the morning
after the ships hit the reef.
The "Nimble" was towed
to safety off the reef,
and the captain took
his bearings.
And we know where that spot
was. That was right here.
So we know that the "Nimble"
was anchored here after,
but we don't actually know
where it hit the reef, right?
Right. Exactly.
So what we have to do is account
for things like the wind
and the weather at that time
and which direction the ships
were sailing when they hit.
When you take in all the
historical evidence,
it makes it pretty clear
that those two ships hit
at either here at Area "A,"
Area "B" or Area "C."
If we can find evidence of the
"Nimble" in these areas,
I think that's gonna
help us pinpoint
the location of the "Guerrero,"
and of the captive
Africans who perished there.
Today these areas are separated.
You have the park
and the sanctuary.
Yeah, Kramer, if you
want to go up to Area "A,"
the northernmost spot,
up in Biscayne National Park and
do some exploring with the folks
from the Biscayne team,
and the rest of us,
we'll go down to Areas "B"
and "C" and take a look around
and see what's there.
- All right.
- Okay.
♪
JOSHUA MORANO: Time in
the water will be now.
Time out will be noon.
Out. Copy.
To the untrained eye,
a shipwreck may look like
nothing more than a coral reef.
And so there are tiny little
puzzle pieces on these wrecks
that we as archaeologists look
for specifically that help us
date wrecks and help us
identify maybe nationality,
who made them,
how large they are,
what they were utilized for.
So any artifact
we find of British design
could be from the "Nimble."
And any artifact
of Spanish design,
from the slave ship, "Guerrero."
♪
♪
If the "Nimble" 's crew tossed
over any large metal objects
in this area, our detector
should pick it up.
[sound detector crackling]
[sound detector pinging]
It looks like we've
found something big.
♪
Gabon's Minister of
Environment, Lee White,
is taking me to
Loango National Park,
a place he says is
relevant to my ancestry.
Where the rainforest comes
right smack down to the ocean.
♪
What percentage
of Gabon is rainforest?
- LEE: Gabon is 88%.
- 88?
- forest.
- Wow.
So, it's the second
most forested
country on the planet.
- Wow!
- Yeah.
Gabon is about 10%
of the African rainforest,
but we have over
60% of the forest
elephants today,
which shows how Gabon
has been so well preserved.
[laughs]
Today we have what
we call "eco-guards"
what you'd call "rangers,"
trained to go out and patrol
the forests and fight
against the poachers.
- Literally?
- Literally.
We're having gun battles
about once a month.
Wow. And what are they after?
- Ivory.
- Wow.
Just like in the slave days,
people came here for slaves,
for ivory, and for ebony.
It's still the same thing.
The elephant ivory is worth
$2000 a kilo
on the black market.
[helicopter noise over voice]
In this beautiful,
now protected park,
there hides a terrible history.
Lee says there's an area we can
prove was once used to confine
close to a million
enslaved Africans
before they were shipped
across the Atlantic.
♪
Lee's arranged to put down here,
then he says we'll head toward
the river mouth to uncover
evidence showing just how
massive the slave trade was.
♪
- Okay.
- Merci! Wow.
There we go, welcome
to Loango National Park.
Loango National Park.
The ocean's there, right?
The ocean's that way.
So, end of the road
for whoever walked or rowed down
the river over here right?
- Or walked.
For three months
to get here from-
Three months of walking or?
- Carrying a big 40-kilo tusk
- Yeah.
or a chunk of ebony.
Right. And then getting chained
into a boat
somewhere over there.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
♪
So 200, 250 years ago,
what was this area called?
Well, this was
the Kingdom of Loango
and by the late 18th century,
it was responsible
for roughly half
of all the slave transports
from West Africa.
Trade routes were opened up from
here deep into the interior
to exploit the riches
of the rainforest.
Most importantly, sadly,
African men, women and children.
We don't bring tourists
this way not much.
This is Ntchorongove Village.
Yup, I used to be
barefoot on roads like this.
You know it kind of feels like
when I was a kid, in Georgia,
walking in dirt like
this and hanging out.
You know, there were shacks,
stuff like this in the area
where I lived, so it's kind of,
it feels very familiar.
When I looked
at the clothesline,
which is actually what
attracted me down here,
when I saw those clothes
hanging on the line.
I was like
"Oh, that looks familiar."
I just walked down.
It just felt like, you know,
it felt like a piece
of my childhood.
So, doesn't feel, doesn't
feel strange at all.
Yeah, familiar.
It touches something inside me.
♪
LEE: We're headed to Iguela.
It's a massive lagoon
over 85 square miles
with lots of little islands.
Over a million slaves were
shipped from this region
and trafficked directly
to the Americas.
♪
[speaks French]
♪
Most of the slaves
from here went to Brazil.
Mm-hmm.
But they found the record
of the first known slave
from Gabon who went
to South Carolina.
It was 1720.
No kidding.
He could have been on the same
boat as my ancestors.
[animal grunting]
There's an elephant right there.
Where?
Isn't that an elephant
in there, right there?
- Yeah, that
- Amazing.
It looks like it's on its own.
It's probably a lone male.
[elephant trumpeting]
So in terms of the amount
of ivory being transported
on this river,
what was the number
of elephants lost at that time?
Probably hundreds of
thousands of elephants.
The whole coastal Gabon
and Congo was basically devoid
of elephants by
the time they finished.
By the time they finished.
And they severely depleted
the human population as well.
They were just
another commodity.
Moved down these rivers
all the way to the coast
where they would be sold off.
Shackled and shipped.
Yeah. There were hundreds
of slave boats coming down here.
[speaks French]
And so, literally, there
are millions of oysters,
and they've built up the level
of these islands 4 meters.
So what just looks like earth,
is actually millions and
millions of oyster shells piled
upon each other. That was the
only food that the captive
peoples had to eat
when they were here.
That's right, your last
meal before you get on a boat
to be sailed off to Brazil.
So that really
is an oyster bank.
They're razor-sharp.
Until Richard came, nobody
thought that's a relic
of the slave trade.
And then you start to think
about how many people
it's acres worth.
Covering how much space?
That's two and a half
thousand acres.
Two and a half thousand acres?
Okay that's
a that's ridiculous.
- Of Of oysters.
- Of oysters, like that?
That deep.
It's just thousands
and thousands
and thousands of poor people.
[boat motor rumbling]
So this is where they would
first see the big ships, right?
So right out there?
Yeah, they might well
see the ships offshore.
For those who were taken
from the interior,
it would've been the first time
they'd ever seen the ocean.
It must've been terrifying.
The first place you
would've seen the big ships
waiting to be filled
with people.
♪
Once again, we look
at the disparate reality
of the slave trade.
I mean, the beauty
of what this is,
just looking at it, this turns
to like a real gateway to hell
for the people who were
seeing it for the last time.
Yeah, today it's
tropical paradise
but 200 years ago,
hell on earth.
♪
From here, the next stop
could've been places like
Brazil, Cuba, the U.S
or the bottom of the ocean.
♪
So we're diving and
we're looking for what Corey
believes could be a trail of
evidence tossed overboard
by the British crew
of the ship, the "Nimble,"
which was in hot pursuit
of the Spanish slave ship,
the "Guerrero."
[men grunting]
So we're looking for cannons,
cannonballs, anchors,
pretty much anything that could
be indicative of a 19th century
British Navy ship.
♪
So this is a protected
area, and we're not allowed
to recover anything
from the bottom.
So by taking
high-resolution imagery,
Corey can bring that back to
his lab and render 3D images
so we can all study
and observe it safely.
♪
[filtered voice]
Yeah, look at that.
What do you think?
Oh, wow, this is a big block
of iron ballast.
It's about 3 feet long.
The 3D will really allow us
to get some wonderful details.
So here is a ballast.
It was used in the bottom
of the ship to make the ship
bottom heavy, so when
the sails filled with wind,
the ship didn't tip over.
It fits exactly
with what we know
the "Nimble" threw overboard.
♪
But all ships have
ballasts onboard,
so we can't say for sure that
this is from the "Nimble."
We're going to have to
keep looking for a needle
in a 200-year-old haystack.
♪
[boat motor rumbling]
We had a big hit on
the metal detector in this area.
There's only one way to figure
out what it is dredging.
♪
[filtered voice]
Water entering that tube
at such a high velocity
will create suction.
It's the equivalent
of a giant vacuum.
♪
When we first saw it,
I didn't know what it was.
♪
But as we kept on working,
it just kept on getting
bigger and bigger.
And I knew at that point it was
going to be something good.
[filtered voice] It's a gun,
which is a very exciting find.
What it is, is a carronade
A small cannon used
by the British.
Now right here you see
a very fine taper.
This is called the nozzle,
and it's particularly dateable.
They didn't have these on most
carronades before 1815.
So this particular gun
probably dates
from about the 1815 to 1830.
It's a single piece of a puzzle.
But this is a very
big piece to that puzzle.
♪
The carronade
is about 200 years old.
And it fits the time
of the "Nimble."
So I think we're on the right
track to finding the "Guerrero."
♪
[children laughing]
The Benga people here in Gabon
have called me
a "lost son returned."
And so, as part of being
welcomed back into the tribe,
it's customary that
I meet the clan elders.
[speak in native language]
Ah, how are you, sir?
The leaders representing
23 Benga clans.
[Benga people singing
in native language]
And then, the man
in charge of it all.
Today, I'm meeting
the Benga king.
[singing continues]
[speaks in native language]
[singing continues]
[speaks in native language]
"Tell our brother
that there is much joy
and happiness on this day."
There is much joy
and happiness on this day.
KING:
[speaks in native language]
- To receive him.
- My heart is full.
[speak in native language]
[speak in native language]
[laughs]
[speak in native language]
[bell ringing]
[chant in native language]
[crowd cheering]
[Benga people singing]
♪
We do know that the "Nimble"
actually threw
a small cannon over,
called a carronade,
to help lighten its load once
it had hit one of the reefs.
So we're adding
the discovery of the ballast
to the carronade that
Kramer and Joshua discovered
less than two miles away.
So really we just need to keep
compiling that evidence.
[filtered voice] Oh, my God,
that's the anchor.
Amongst all this turtle grass,
it just really stands out.
♪
You can see this anchor
is set into the ground.
One fluke is completely
buried, one sticks up.
Somebody was actively using
this when they lost it.
Now it's kind of hard to say
for sure if this is indeed
The "Nimble" 's anchor,
but I'll say this,
it's the right size for what
the "Nimble" would have carried,
it's the right design
for the time period,
and it's in exactly
the right location.
- Oh, my God.
- Whoa.
[laughter]
Isn't that awesome?
And "Nimble" lost two anchors
One that matches
perfectly with this.
[filtered voice]
This anchor, I think
is an important part of evidence
for the story of
the "Guerrero" and "Nimble."
Really matches closely with
the evidence that we have.
It's really something.
Really wonderful to see this.
This anchor, along with the
ballast and the carronade,
really shows that
the evidence is piling up.
It all points to the hazardous
line the "Nimble" took
on the high seas chase for
the slave ship "Guerrero."
♪
The ship logs from the "Nimble"
note that the crew
threw over iron shot
and cannonballs.
So, uh, pretty specific stuff.
And I think, you know, if we can
see that kind of material,
we're hot on the trail.
[filtered voice]
Look, the copper nail
just sitting here.
It's a good find, but not
what we're looking for.
♪
[filtered voice] Oh, wow.
Yeah, look at that.
This is a little hard to see
with all the growth on it.
But what we have here
are two cannonballs.
You can see one here
and one here,
and they're all fused together,
and they look like
a miniature reef here.
Oh!
Look at that.
And now we're
starting to find them
everywhere down here.
[filtred voice] Wow!
Another iron cannonball,
sitting on the reef.
♪
It's amazing.
There's just stuff everywhere.
♪
This fits our scenario
of the "Nimble" throwing over
lots of iron cannonballs.
When you combine all these
iron cannonballs with
the iron ballast, it just fits
the historical record perfectly.
♪
So many cannonballs.
Huge cannonballs.
I bet we saw at least
12 of them.
Productive dive!
♪
Gosh, if this is the actual
site of, you know,
the "Nimble" and the "Guerrero"
is around here somewhere then
I think we can find it.
♪
[birds chirping]
♪
[animal screeching]
♪
Right on the borders of
the sacred village
where their kings are
enthroned are the forests
the Benga believe contain
ancestral spirits.
♪
♪
The king has invited me
here to witness a ceremony
that's incredibly important
in their oral tradition.
♪
It takes the better part of a
day because members of the tribe
re-enact the Benga's entire
migration history
from their early days in
the Sahara, to these
tribal battles in the dense
interior forests.
[chants in native language]
And finally their victorious
arrival at the Atlantic coast.
[continues chanting]
[speaks in native language]
[sing in native language]
This is how the Benga
pass on their story
to the new generations
and now to me,
a "lost son returned."
[chant in native language]
This is the rich culture
that was severed
from my ancestors when
the European slavers tore them
from these coastal forests.
[chanting continues]
I guess a lot of people
would be very emotional
about it, but I absorb it
in another way:
as validation of being part of
a group of party people,
or warriors that know how
to roll with the punches.
So, I count myself
as being from, you know,
a tribe of survivors.
[singing continues]
[birds chirping,
animal squawking]
♪
We got a good start.
We're on the right track
trying to follow the trail
of the artifacts of
the "Nimble,"
and it looks like
our efforts are paying off.
I think today, uh,
we're gonna find
some things from the "Guerrero."
The carronade we believe could
be Nimble's was discovered here.
We found the jettisoned ballast
and the cannonballs here.
And the anchor was
discovered here.
We're connecting the dots.
These are really looking like
the strike points where "Nimble"
hit the reef while pursuing
the Spanish slave ship,
and considering that,
we could right now be
on top of "Guerrero."
We're looking
for any conclusive evidence
that will tie this location
to the final resting place
of the 41 enslaved.
Diving the site,
it just brings it
closer to reality,
closer to those people
who were murdered here,
who were captured here,
who were tortured here.
The 41 who died here.
♪
♪
A ballast stone,
a lonely ballast stone.
It's just a rock that was
in the bottom of the ship
to make the ship bottom-heavy.
To me it looks like a rock,
is a rock, is a rock.
Well, yeah
Well, you don't really have
big rocks like that.
That's exactly right.
Around here in the Keys,
it's all limestone.
So if anything is a rock
that's not limestone
it was brought in.
- It's, like, way
And if it's underwater,
it probably was brought in
on a ship, and that's
what we're seeing here
Rocks that just don't
fit the natural landscape.
♪
Corey's location mapping
might just be on the money.
I can see something.
[filtered voice]
This looks like an iron knee
or some sort of a brace.
It looks like it's from
the right time period.
Iron braces like this could've
been used to reinforce
the hull structure of
ships like "Guerrero."
Oh, the brace
you were talking about.
Triangular brace.
Certainly it was
part of the ship.
It was used to, you know,
reinforce something.
As I move it around, you know,
you get a really good sense
of the shape of it nestled
in a little pocket
in the hard bottom.
[filtered voice] And next
to that, another piece of iron
A pin that held some
of the ship together.
♪
It's becoming
more and more evident
that we're over a debris field.
♪
And then, there it is.
Our smoking gun.
This oddly shaped piece of iron
with these two flat heads
It's a bar shot.
The Spanish use?
- Looks to be Spanish, you know.
- Right.
And fits the time, fits
the nationality for "Guerrero,"
and here it is.
This is exactly
what we'd expect to find
on a Spanish ship
like the "Guerrero."
♪
The evidence is there.
It seems like a wreck
definitely was in this area.
It's beautiful and sad
altogether, like,
to be down there
amongst that stuff,
amongst the wreckage.
♪
I feel absolutely
confident that we have found
the wreck of the "Guerrero."
[faint screaming]
This is a gravesite.
Anyone who dives a wreck
like this has to understand that
there's history and people's
stories and people's lives
and people's deaths
associated with that.
[screaming]
So it's a "sombering"
kind of experience.
It's giving voice to people who
don't have a voice anymore,
and that's what this entire
experience has been all about.
♪
I'm humbled.
♪
Centuries after my ancestors
were sold into slavery,
I've reunited with their tribe.
I count this as
a victory not just mine,
but for all those
that never made it back.
[Benga people chanting]
From day one, the Benga
have welcomed me with open arms,
but today they're
making it official.
[chanting continues]
In a traditional initiation
ceremony that is centuries old,
the tribal elders
are reintegrating me
into Benga society.
[chanting continues]
[metal instrument
clanging rapidly]
I was a lost son that returned,
and I wanted to connect
with them,
and they could feel
that I wanted that.
[chanting continues]
It's like I put a link back in
my chain that was broken.
I repaired it.
[chanting continues]
I am part of this.
This is where I came from.
This is my beginning.
[speaks in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
Given that we already
share Benga DNA,
it kind of makes sense when
the clan leaders tell me
that blowing air into my hands
symbolizes the "breath of life"
that animates my new Benga body.
[chanting continues]
These are some
powerful blessings.
[speaks in native language]
Blessings.
[metal instrument clanging]
[speaks in native language]
[people chanting,
metal instrument clanging]
And this is where the sacred,
ritual items that I collected
earlier come into play.
[speaks in native language]
[indistinct chatter
in native language]
[laughs]
[speaks in native language]
[speaks in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
[chanting continues]
[Benga women ululating]
[sing in native language]
[sing in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
[speaks in native language]
[crowd cheering
in native language]
NINA SIMONE: I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish I could break
all the chains holding me ♪
I wish I could say all the
things that I should say ♪
Say 'em loud, say 'em clear
For the whole round
world to hear ♪
I wish I could share all
the love that's in my heart ♪
Remove all the bars
that keep ♪
SAM: Out on the ocean,
looking for sunken slave ships.
♪
[crowd screaming, chain
rattling, whipping noise]
When I began this journey,
I couldn't imagine
that I would be going
back to my roots
[crowd chanting
in native language]
or that I would be
telling the story
of the transatlantic
slave trade.
AFUA: In the governor's bedroom,
there's a trap door in the floor
and it leads into
the women's dungeon,
and he would just have free
access to these women and girls.
SAM: The case of the slaves
was the same as if horses
had been thrown overboard.
SIMCHA: Let me get
this straight.
This is currency created
to buy a human being.
TERRY: One human being.
♪
KRAMER: Hey, Sam,
how you doing, buddy?
- Morning!
- Morning!
I've teamed up with DWP,
Diving With a Purpose.
What a morning, out
here in the high seas.
Ready to get wet, man?
Some of the best underwater
investigators in the world.
MAN: Chris, you ready?
JOSH: All right, thanks
for being here, friend.
- I appreciate it.
- All right, bro.
♪
More than two million of
our ancestors died at sea.
These divers are dedicated
to bring to light
their forgotten story.
KRAMER: England
was involved in it.
Portugal was involved in it.
The Africans were
involved in it.
It's a burial ground
and a crime scene.
ALANNAH: We are raising
the voices of people
who didn't have a voice,
whose voices were also enslaved.
MELODY: We have to
teach our young people
where they came from.
If we don't do it,
no one will, ever.
We only talk about
the ships that made it.
We never talk about
the ones that didn't.
Bring another part of
the history of this world
into focus, because people
just don't talk about it.
What was really going
on with the slave trade?
♪
[sound effect -
metal chain clicking]
♪
For me, it all started
at my cousin Hilda's.
[song by Nina Simone plays]
I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish I could break
all the chains holding me ♪
Hilda's been able to do
something uncommon
for most African Americans:
that I should say,
say 'em loud ♪
trace our lineage back
to the days of slavery.
For the whole round
world to hear ♪
Hey!
♪
Come on. What you got in here?
HILDA: Who is that
young man there?
That's me.
All right. Beautiful picture.
Sam, I want you to look at some
of your history that you have
never seen, and we
want you to know it.
When did you have
time to do all this?
Do you know that
most of the information
in here is by word of mouth?
We followed our ancestry back
from Zoe, LaTanya and Sam.
Then we have Elizabeth and Roy.
Yup.
And we have Aunt Pearl
and Uncle Edgar,
who is Sam's grandfather.
And then we go to Lillie,
who is the mother to Edgar.
And this is Lillie.
Mm-hmm. That's a
picture of Lillie.
And Miles is the father to
Edgar, Uncle Edgar's daddy.
So this is Miles.
Miles Montgomery. That's him.
- Wow.
- Mm-hmm.
And then parents
here, Arthur Branham.
- Arthur was born into slavery.
- Mm-hmm.
So he was three
when slavery ended.
Three years old
when slavery ended.
Three. That's right.
And this is his mother, Matilda.
- Who was a slave.
- Yes, that's right. Mm-hmm.
- Owned by the Branhams?
- Yes.
So they just took
their last name.
- Mm-hmm.
- They just took their names.
ARTHUR: Yes. They
owned a lot of slaves.
They were wealthy.
A Judge Branham is
the one who fathered Arthur.
You can see his
name up there, Joel Branham.
Mm-hmm.
So as far as we know,
we're able to trace our ancestry
back to when our
relatives were enslaved.
♪
I did my DNA ancestry.
And my ancestors
came from Gabon.
And they were from the Benga
tribe and I want to see what
that means in terms of who I am
and where I came from.
So I would like to know more
about how my people lived,
how that played into the
kind of person that I am.
Just trying to
connect to my roots.
And the best place to do that
is here, my ancestral home.
♪
MINISTER NGUEÉMA:
Hi Sam! How are you doing?
I am fine, how are you?
- Welcome to Gabon.
- Thank you.
♪
Let's go.
[crowd singing in native
language, drums]
Oh, my God. This is great.
[singing and music continues]
[indistinct crowd chatter]
[Benga people singing]
[Benga people singing]
A lot of energy!
Let's go!
[singing and music continues]
Okay, thank you.
[singing and music continues]
MINISTER WHITE:
They will initiate you.
It's not like being
jumped into a gang, is it?
- ENENGE: No. A brotherhood.
- It's going to be all right?
- You'll be all right.
- All right, fine.
You will be a real Benga.
[laughing] Anticipation
builds
[laughter]
[both speaking French]
♪
More than 12 million
Africans were enslaved
and trafficked from dozens
of outposts established
along the coast of Africa.
The transatlantic slave trade
existed for well over
300 years and involved
more than 45,000 voyages.
Most ships made it. Many didn't.
In the early 1800s, even after
most countries banned the trade,
illegal trafficking
was continuing.
My ancestors could have
easily ended up on the illegal
Spanish slaver, the "Guerrero."
♪
COREY: The "Guerrero" was
sailing to Cuba with almost
600 African people on board.
They sailed past the Bahamas.
Stationed there was a British
navy ship, the "Nimble."
The "Nimble" was there to
intercept illegal slave ships.
They tried to stop "Guerrero."
"Guerrero" took off.
They got into a chase, they got
into a gun battle.
Eventually, night fell.
Both ships slammed into
the Florida reef
somewhere off Key Largo.
So beneath these waters now are
the puzzle pieces that are gonna
help us reconstruct the story of
these two shipwrecks.
And that's really
become my passion.
I've invited the
DWP team to join me
in the search
for the "Guerrero."
KINGA: Hi, Corey!
Hey, guys. How are you?
You guys ready to do a
little bit of research?
We are!
JOSH: So what is this
story about the "Guerrero"
and why do you think
it's the "Guerrero"?
You know, the story
of "Guerrero" is really
the story of two ships:
"Guerrero," the slave ship, and
then the British navy schooner
that was chasing it.
And they got into a gun battle
and they both smashed
into the reef.
♪
The "Nimble" ran aground and was
able to float itself off
the reef by jettisoning
iron ballasts and cannonballs.
But the slave ship "Guerrero"
crashed into the reef
with such force that it sank.
41 of the captive Africans
on board died.
The "Nimble's" crew said
they could hear the screams
crossing two miles of ocean.
It had been their duty to save
the people on the "Guerrero,"
but instead they
had accidentally
chased them to their doom.
We're going to
find the "Guerrero."
There could be all kinds
of artifacts out there
that are specific
to a slave ship.
So here I have some
things to show you guys.
ALL: Oh!
These are all pieces recovered
from the other wrecks.
So what's this guy?
A tooth extractor.
I remember in school,
we were taught some slaves
wouldn't eat in protest.
They would remove the teeth
so that they could shove food
- Right.
- in their mouth.
Just visualizing that is
absolutely chilling.
That my ancestor could've had
their teeth pulled
to make them eat because
they needed to be strong
in order to be bought.
[gag reflex sound]
And here is the real
telltale artifact.
The essence of the slave
trade: a set of shackles.
These were the iron
restraints designed
to hold people two by two.
Wrists?
Wrists and generally ankles.
You slid this 'U' onto
somebody's ankle.
You took this other 'U', put it
on another person's ankle,
and then those people
were joined together.
It was shackled to two
people 'cause it makes it
way more effective to
keep people from running.
Right. If you're, you know,
hobbled
to somebody else,
you can't swim. You can't run.
- Right.
- You can't move.
It was horrible.
So, I know how I'm
feeling holding something
like this, but this is, um,
it's just a different feeling.
It's hard to articulate.
To just have these
in my hand it just,
it just hits a different note.
I guess you could just see
in my face maybe it's just
No, absolutely.
And there's no denying
the cruelty of it when
you look at those things
- Yeah.
- and you know what they did.
♪
This initiation ceremony
you were telling me about today,
what does it actually
really mean?
For you, specifically, it means
a reintegration
into Benga society.
Your ancestor was
taken from this area,
and you have been separated
from your Benga people
for at least 250 years.
Your coming back, having
identified yourself as a Benga,
through DNA, was something
that was a shock
to the Benga community because
of all the millions of Africans
that left Africa,
to have a person in America
be identified as
Benga was phenomenal.
So to be integrated
into Benga society,
you need to acquire
certain materials.
One is the indigenous torch,
[speaks Benga],
a flyswatter, [speaks Benga],
a cane, and a white cloth.
Okay. So, I gotta go out
and get those things.
Yes, you do.
Okay. All right.
♪
All right. So we're going to
the fabric store first.
What's the fabric for?
The white cloth when
we're communing
with the ancestors, white is
the color of the ancestors
because they have white bones.
And white is the color of sperm.
Oh, Okay. I'm trying
to figure that out.
I wanna grab that.
Oh, yeah which
is the future generations.
Because to procreate, sperm
and the ovum come together.
Mm-hmm.
And the white waves,
in traditional Benga,
the land of the living
and the land of the dead
is separated by a great river.
Mm-hmm.
And so, when you see
the white waves breaking,
it's some of the ancestors
crossing the great river
- Mm-hmm.
- from the land of the dead
to the land of the living.
Okay. So, does this white cloth
have to be a specific size or
Well, it has to be able
to wrap around your body.
Wrap around the body.
Yeah, yeah.
♪
So plain white or fancy white?
What are we talking about?
Plain white, plain
white, about
Plain as in how plain?
A pure white,
because you're going
to be joining the ancestors.
I know. See, this
would be my preference.
But I gotta get
something for a purpose.
- Great.
- About 4 meters.
Show you this.
- I think that's it.
- Ah.
Yeah, that's That's better.
That That that's
gonna be kickin' it.
Looks good. Looks good to me.
You just know how much
that is by looking at it?
You don't have to
measure anything
You just start cutting.
Yes, she says she's
been doing it a long time.
Yeah, I believe it.
This is cool.
- Yeah, cool.
- WOMAN: Very nice.
- Très bien!
- Très bien!
- Right.
- In Benga, "Bwamo."
Bwamo.
♪
My aunt noticed that
you walk like a Benga man,
because walking in the sand
- Mm-hmm.
have a certain gait that,
you know, like you follow.
She said "it's a typical Benga
man walking on the sand,"
which is a good thing.
- Is that what she said?
- Yeah, yeah.
Okay. Well, there you have it.
Stuff we don't know that we
have, but we got it.
[horns honking]
What else do I need?
A fly swatter,
a torch and a cane.
These guys should
have all three.
They're instrument makers,
sculptors, real craftsmen.
♪
They're the experts in
traditional ceremonies,
when the living and the
ancestors come together.
♪
All right, okay
might find what
I'm looking for in here.
- Bonjour.
- FISTON: Bonjour.
[speaks French]
That's something I need, right?
Yes. That's the [speaks Benga],
the fly swatter.
Ah.
[speaks French]
Merci.
[laughs]
- [speaks Benga]
- [repeats phrase]
[laughter]
Is that the torch?
[in French]
So he's going to perform
a little ceremony here.
♪
[speaks French]
Been blessed.
Blessed. That's right.
[speaks French]
Merci. Beautiful!
Okay, thank you very much.
Okay, so I've got the fly
swatter a torch.
So what else do I need?
A cane, right?
A cane
[speaks French]
Now I saw
the canes out there.
Didn't touch me.
But when I came in here,
sitting here watching you play,
and I went, "Aw! Ahhh."
[speaks French]
Okay.
Stayed like
that from the get-go.
I love it the way it is.
Yeah, okay.
And when you came in,
boom, it got to you.
Mm-hmm. Sittin' here
waiting for me then.
It sure is.
[laughter]
[Fiston playing music]
I feel a kinship.
[Fiston playing and singing]
Listening to the music,
I couldn't help thinking that
when millions of Africans went
down with the slave ships,
our rich culture also
went down with them.
[music continues]
And what was lost at sea has
been forgotten for centuries.
♪
ALANNAH: We're eager to
head out and find a sunken
slave ship called
the "Guerrero."
- Hello!
- Kramer!
Kramer!
Senior diver Kramer Wimberley
joins the team.
Now you get to come
play with us!
Yes. I missed you guys.
Corey fills us in on his plan
I think really in order
to find the "Guerrero,"
we're going to have to find
evidence of the "Nimble."
"Nimble" essentially
left a trail.
♪
"Nimble" had run up
onto the reef.
They needed to lighten
their load.
They were able to free
themselves by throwing over
iron ballast blocks and
cannonballs.
They got anchored up, and then
their anchor line parted.
They drifted onto the reef again
and they threw over more
cannonballs, ballasts,
more shot, and a small cannon.
♪
So we're looking for things
that the "Nimble" threw off.
Exactly. Those are our clues.
So the biggest clue we have in
the historical record
in all of this is the position
of the "Nimble" the morning
after the ships hit the reef.
The "Nimble" was towed
to safety off the reef,
and the captain took
his bearings.
And we know where that spot
was. That was right here.
So we know that the "Nimble"
was anchored here after,
but we don't actually know
where it hit the reef, right?
Right. Exactly.
So what we have to do is account
for things like the wind
and the weather at that time
and which direction the ships
were sailing when they hit.
When you take in all the
historical evidence,
it makes it pretty clear
that those two ships hit
at either here at Area "A,"
Area "B" or Area "C."
If we can find evidence of the
"Nimble" in these areas,
I think that's gonna
help us pinpoint
the location of the "Guerrero,"
and of the captive
Africans who perished there.
Today these areas are separated.
You have the park
and the sanctuary.
Yeah, Kramer, if you
want to go up to Area "A,"
the northernmost spot,
up in Biscayne National Park and
do some exploring with the folks
from the Biscayne team,
and the rest of us,
we'll go down to Areas "B"
and "C" and take a look around
and see what's there.
- All right.
- Okay.
♪
JOSHUA MORANO: Time in
the water will be now.
Time out will be noon.
Out. Copy.
To the untrained eye,
a shipwreck may look like
nothing more than a coral reef.
And so there are tiny little
puzzle pieces on these wrecks
that we as archaeologists look
for specifically that help us
date wrecks and help us
identify maybe nationality,
who made them,
how large they are,
what they were utilized for.
So any artifact
we find of British design
could be from the "Nimble."
And any artifact
of Spanish design,
from the slave ship, "Guerrero."
♪
♪
If the "Nimble" 's crew tossed
over any large metal objects
in this area, our detector
should pick it up.
[sound detector crackling]
[sound detector pinging]
It looks like we've
found something big.
♪
Gabon's Minister of
Environment, Lee White,
is taking me to
Loango National Park,
a place he says is
relevant to my ancestry.
Where the rainforest comes
right smack down to the ocean.
♪
What percentage
of Gabon is rainforest?
- LEE: Gabon is 88%.
- 88?
- forest.
- Wow.
So, it's the second
most forested
country on the planet.
- Wow!
- Yeah.
Gabon is about 10%
of the African rainforest,
but we have over
60% of the forest
elephants today,
which shows how Gabon
has been so well preserved.
[laughs]
Today we have what
we call "eco-guards"
what you'd call "rangers,"
trained to go out and patrol
the forests and fight
against the poachers.
- Literally?
- Literally.
We're having gun battles
about once a month.
Wow. And what are they after?
- Ivory.
- Wow.
Just like in the slave days,
people came here for slaves,
for ivory, and for ebony.
It's still the same thing.
The elephant ivory is worth
$2000 a kilo
on the black market.
[helicopter noise over voice]
In this beautiful,
now protected park,
there hides a terrible history.
Lee says there's an area we can
prove was once used to confine
close to a million
enslaved Africans
before they were shipped
across the Atlantic.
♪
Lee's arranged to put down here,
then he says we'll head toward
the river mouth to uncover
evidence showing just how
massive the slave trade was.
♪
- Okay.
- Merci! Wow.
There we go, welcome
to Loango National Park.
Loango National Park.
The ocean's there, right?
The ocean's that way.
So, end of the road
for whoever walked or rowed down
the river over here right?
- Or walked.
For three months
to get here from-
Three months of walking or?
- Carrying a big 40-kilo tusk
- Yeah.
or a chunk of ebony.
Right. And then getting chained
into a boat
somewhere over there.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
♪
So 200, 250 years ago,
what was this area called?
Well, this was
the Kingdom of Loango
and by the late 18th century,
it was responsible
for roughly half
of all the slave transports
from West Africa.
Trade routes were opened up from
here deep into the interior
to exploit the riches
of the rainforest.
Most importantly, sadly,
African men, women and children.
We don't bring tourists
this way not much.
This is Ntchorongove Village.
Yup, I used to be
barefoot on roads like this.
You know it kind of feels like
when I was a kid, in Georgia,
walking in dirt like
this and hanging out.
You know, there were shacks,
stuff like this in the area
where I lived, so it's kind of,
it feels very familiar.
When I looked
at the clothesline,
which is actually what
attracted me down here,
when I saw those clothes
hanging on the line.
I was like
"Oh, that looks familiar."
I just walked down.
It just felt like, you know,
it felt like a piece
of my childhood.
So, doesn't feel, doesn't
feel strange at all.
Yeah, familiar.
It touches something inside me.
♪
LEE: We're headed to Iguela.
It's a massive lagoon
over 85 square miles
with lots of little islands.
Over a million slaves were
shipped from this region
and trafficked directly
to the Americas.
♪
[speaks French]
♪
Most of the slaves
from here went to Brazil.
Mm-hmm.
But they found the record
of the first known slave
from Gabon who went
to South Carolina.
It was 1720.
No kidding.
He could have been on the same
boat as my ancestors.
[animal grunting]
There's an elephant right there.
Where?
Isn't that an elephant
in there, right there?
- Yeah, that
- Amazing.
It looks like it's on its own.
It's probably a lone male.
[elephant trumpeting]
So in terms of the amount
of ivory being transported
on this river,
what was the number
of elephants lost at that time?
Probably hundreds of
thousands of elephants.
The whole coastal Gabon
and Congo was basically devoid
of elephants by
the time they finished.
By the time they finished.
And they severely depleted
the human population as well.
They were just
another commodity.
Moved down these rivers
all the way to the coast
where they would be sold off.
Shackled and shipped.
Yeah. There were hundreds
of slave boats coming down here.
[speaks French]
And so, literally, there
are millions of oysters,
and they've built up the level
of these islands 4 meters.
So what just looks like earth,
is actually millions and
millions of oyster shells piled
upon each other. That was the
only food that the captive
peoples had to eat
when they were here.
That's right, your last
meal before you get on a boat
to be sailed off to Brazil.
So that really
is an oyster bank.
They're razor-sharp.
Until Richard came, nobody
thought that's a relic
of the slave trade.
And then you start to think
about how many people
it's acres worth.
Covering how much space?
That's two and a half
thousand acres.
Two and a half thousand acres?
Okay that's
a that's ridiculous.
- Of Of oysters.
- Of oysters, like that?
That deep.
It's just thousands
and thousands
and thousands of poor people.
[boat motor rumbling]
So this is where they would
first see the big ships, right?
So right out there?
Yeah, they might well
see the ships offshore.
For those who were taken
from the interior,
it would've been the first time
they'd ever seen the ocean.
It must've been terrifying.
The first place you
would've seen the big ships
waiting to be filled
with people.
♪
Once again, we look
at the disparate reality
of the slave trade.
I mean, the beauty
of what this is,
just looking at it, this turns
to like a real gateway to hell
for the people who were
seeing it for the last time.
Yeah, today it's
tropical paradise
but 200 years ago,
hell on earth.
♪
From here, the next stop
could've been places like
Brazil, Cuba, the U.S
or the bottom of the ocean.
♪
So we're diving and
we're looking for what Corey
believes could be a trail of
evidence tossed overboard
by the British crew
of the ship, the "Nimble,"
which was in hot pursuit
of the Spanish slave ship,
the "Guerrero."
[men grunting]
So we're looking for cannons,
cannonballs, anchors,
pretty much anything that could
be indicative of a 19th century
British Navy ship.
♪
So this is a protected
area, and we're not allowed
to recover anything
from the bottom.
So by taking
high-resolution imagery,
Corey can bring that back to
his lab and render 3D images
so we can all study
and observe it safely.
♪
[filtered voice]
Yeah, look at that.
What do you think?
Oh, wow, this is a big block
of iron ballast.
It's about 3 feet long.
The 3D will really allow us
to get some wonderful details.
So here is a ballast.
It was used in the bottom
of the ship to make the ship
bottom heavy, so when
the sails filled with wind,
the ship didn't tip over.
It fits exactly
with what we know
the "Nimble" threw overboard.
♪
But all ships have
ballasts onboard,
so we can't say for sure that
this is from the "Nimble."
We're going to have to
keep looking for a needle
in a 200-year-old haystack.
♪
[boat motor rumbling]
We had a big hit on
the metal detector in this area.
There's only one way to figure
out what it is dredging.
♪
[filtered voice]
Water entering that tube
at such a high velocity
will create suction.
It's the equivalent
of a giant vacuum.
♪
When we first saw it,
I didn't know what it was.
♪
But as we kept on working,
it just kept on getting
bigger and bigger.
And I knew at that point it was
going to be something good.
[filtered voice] It's a gun,
which is a very exciting find.
What it is, is a carronade
A small cannon used
by the British.
Now right here you see
a very fine taper.
This is called the nozzle,
and it's particularly dateable.
They didn't have these on most
carronades before 1815.
So this particular gun
probably dates
from about the 1815 to 1830.
It's a single piece of a puzzle.
But this is a very
big piece to that puzzle.
♪
The carronade
is about 200 years old.
And it fits the time
of the "Nimble."
So I think we're on the right
track to finding the "Guerrero."
♪
[children laughing]
The Benga people here in Gabon
have called me
a "lost son returned."
And so, as part of being
welcomed back into the tribe,
it's customary that
I meet the clan elders.
[speak in native language]
Ah, how are you, sir?
The leaders representing
23 Benga clans.
[Benga people singing
in native language]
And then, the man
in charge of it all.
Today, I'm meeting
the Benga king.
[singing continues]
[speaks in native language]
[singing continues]
[speaks in native language]
"Tell our brother
that there is much joy
and happiness on this day."
There is much joy
and happiness on this day.
KING:
[speaks in native language]
- To receive him.
- My heart is full.
[speak in native language]
[speak in native language]
[laughs]
[speak in native language]
[bell ringing]
[chant in native language]
[crowd cheering]
[Benga people singing]
♪
We do know that the "Nimble"
actually threw
a small cannon over,
called a carronade,
to help lighten its load once
it had hit one of the reefs.
So we're adding
the discovery of the ballast
to the carronade that
Kramer and Joshua discovered
less than two miles away.
So really we just need to keep
compiling that evidence.
[filtered voice] Oh, my God,
that's the anchor.
Amongst all this turtle grass,
it just really stands out.
♪
You can see this anchor
is set into the ground.
One fluke is completely
buried, one sticks up.
Somebody was actively using
this when they lost it.
Now it's kind of hard to say
for sure if this is indeed
The "Nimble" 's anchor,
but I'll say this,
it's the right size for what
the "Nimble" would have carried,
it's the right design
for the time period,
and it's in exactly
the right location.
- Oh, my God.
- Whoa.
[laughter]
Isn't that awesome?
And "Nimble" lost two anchors
One that matches
perfectly with this.
[filtered voice]
This anchor, I think
is an important part of evidence
for the story of
the "Guerrero" and "Nimble."
Really matches closely with
the evidence that we have.
It's really something.
Really wonderful to see this.
This anchor, along with the
ballast and the carronade,
really shows that
the evidence is piling up.
It all points to the hazardous
line the "Nimble" took
on the high seas chase for
the slave ship "Guerrero."
♪
The ship logs from the "Nimble"
note that the crew
threw over iron shot
and cannonballs.
So, uh, pretty specific stuff.
And I think, you know, if we can
see that kind of material,
we're hot on the trail.
[filtered voice]
Look, the copper nail
just sitting here.
It's a good find, but not
what we're looking for.
♪
[filtered voice] Oh, wow.
Yeah, look at that.
This is a little hard to see
with all the growth on it.
But what we have here
are two cannonballs.
You can see one here
and one here,
and they're all fused together,
and they look like
a miniature reef here.
Oh!
Look at that.
And now we're
starting to find them
everywhere down here.
[filtred voice] Wow!
Another iron cannonball,
sitting on the reef.
♪
It's amazing.
There's just stuff everywhere.
♪
This fits our scenario
of the "Nimble" throwing over
lots of iron cannonballs.
When you combine all these
iron cannonballs with
the iron ballast, it just fits
the historical record perfectly.
♪
So many cannonballs.
Huge cannonballs.
I bet we saw at least
12 of them.
Productive dive!
♪
Gosh, if this is the actual
site of, you know,
the "Nimble" and the "Guerrero"
is around here somewhere then
I think we can find it.
♪
[birds chirping]
♪
[animal screeching]
♪
Right on the borders of
the sacred village
where their kings are
enthroned are the forests
the Benga believe contain
ancestral spirits.
♪
♪
The king has invited me
here to witness a ceremony
that's incredibly important
in their oral tradition.
♪
It takes the better part of a
day because members of the tribe
re-enact the Benga's entire
migration history
from their early days in
the Sahara, to these
tribal battles in the dense
interior forests.
[chants in native language]
And finally their victorious
arrival at the Atlantic coast.
[continues chanting]
[speaks in native language]
[sing in native language]
This is how the Benga
pass on their story
to the new generations
and now to me,
a "lost son returned."
[chant in native language]
This is the rich culture
that was severed
from my ancestors when
the European slavers tore them
from these coastal forests.
[chanting continues]
I guess a lot of people
would be very emotional
about it, but I absorb it
in another way:
as validation of being part of
a group of party people,
or warriors that know how
to roll with the punches.
So, I count myself
as being from, you know,
a tribe of survivors.
[singing continues]
[birds chirping,
animal squawking]
♪
We got a good start.
We're on the right track
trying to follow the trail
of the artifacts of
the "Nimble,"
and it looks like
our efforts are paying off.
I think today, uh,
we're gonna find
some things from the "Guerrero."
The carronade we believe could
be Nimble's was discovered here.
We found the jettisoned ballast
and the cannonballs here.
And the anchor was
discovered here.
We're connecting the dots.
These are really looking like
the strike points where "Nimble"
hit the reef while pursuing
the Spanish slave ship,
and considering that,
we could right now be
on top of "Guerrero."
We're looking
for any conclusive evidence
that will tie this location
to the final resting place
of the 41 enslaved.
Diving the site,
it just brings it
closer to reality,
closer to those people
who were murdered here,
who were captured here,
who were tortured here.
The 41 who died here.
♪
♪
A ballast stone,
a lonely ballast stone.
It's just a rock that was
in the bottom of the ship
to make the ship bottom-heavy.
To me it looks like a rock,
is a rock, is a rock.
Well, yeah
Well, you don't really have
big rocks like that.
That's exactly right.
Around here in the Keys,
it's all limestone.
So if anything is a rock
that's not limestone
it was brought in.
- It's, like, way
And if it's underwater,
it probably was brought in
on a ship, and that's
what we're seeing here
Rocks that just don't
fit the natural landscape.
♪
Corey's location mapping
might just be on the money.
I can see something.
[filtered voice]
This looks like an iron knee
or some sort of a brace.
It looks like it's from
the right time period.
Iron braces like this could've
been used to reinforce
the hull structure of
ships like "Guerrero."
Oh, the brace
you were talking about.
Triangular brace.
Certainly it was
part of the ship.
It was used to, you know,
reinforce something.
As I move it around, you know,
you get a really good sense
of the shape of it nestled
in a little pocket
in the hard bottom.
[filtered voice] And next
to that, another piece of iron
A pin that held some
of the ship together.
♪
It's becoming
more and more evident
that we're over a debris field.
♪
And then, there it is.
Our smoking gun.
This oddly shaped piece of iron
with these two flat heads
It's a bar shot.
The Spanish use?
- Looks to be Spanish, you know.
- Right.
And fits the time, fits
the nationality for "Guerrero,"
and here it is.
This is exactly
what we'd expect to find
on a Spanish ship
like the "Guerrero."
♪
The evidence is there.
It seems like a wreck
definitely was in this area.
It's beautiful and sad
altogether, like,
to be down there
amongst that stuff,
amongst the wreckage.
♪
I feel absolutely
confident that we have found
the wreck of the "Guerrero."
[faint screaming]
This is a gravesite.
Anyone who dives a wreck
like this has to understand that
there's history and people's
stories and people's lives
and people's deaths
associated with that.
[screaming]
So it's a "sombering"
kind of experience.
It's giving voice to people who
don't have a voice anymore,
and that's what this entire
experience has been all about.
♪
I'm humbled.
♪
Centuries after my ancestors
were sold into slavery,
I've reunited with their tribe.
I count this as
a victory not just mine,
but for all those
that never made it back.
[Benga people chanting]
From day one, the Benga
have welcomed me with open arms,
but today they're
making it official.
[chanting continues]
In a traditional initiation
ceremony that is centuries old,
the tribal elders
are reintegrating me
into Benga society.
[chanting continues]
[metal instrument
clanging rapidly]
I was a lost son that returned,
and I wanted to connect
with them,
and they could feel
that I wanted that.
[chanting continues]
It's like I put a link back in
my chain that was broken.
I repaired it.
[chanting continues]
I am part of this.
This is where I came from.
This is my beginning.
[speaks in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
Given that we already
share Benga DNA,
it kind of makes sense when
the clan leaders tell me
that blowing air into my hands
symbolizes the "breath of life"
that animates my new Benga body.
[chanting continues]
These are some
powerful blessings.
[speaks in native language]
Blessings.
[metal instrument clanging]
[speaks in native language]
[people chanting,
metal instrument clanging]
And this is where the sacred,
ritual items that I collected
earlier come into play.
[speaks in native language]
[indistinct chatter
in native language]
[laughs]
[speaks in native language]
[speaks in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
[chanting continues]
[Benga women ululating]
[sing in native language]
[sing in native language]
[Benga people chanting]
[speaks in native language]
[crowd cheering
in native language]
NINA SIMONE: I wish I knew how
It would feel to be free
I wish I could break
all the chains holding me ♪
I wish I could say all the
things that I should say ♪
Say 'em loud, say 'em clear
For the whole round
world to hear ♪
I wish I could share all
the love that's in my heart ♪
Remove all the bars
that keep ♪