People Did Not Go Quietly Divers Explore Wreck Of 18th-century Slave Ship Where Mutiny Took Place

Black archaeologists join team investigating off the coast of Mozambique as part of global project to identify and tell stories of wrecked ships involved in transatlantic slave trade Celso Simbine walks briskly along the narrow streets of Stone Town in Ilha de Mozambique off the countrys north coast, a diving tank on his shoulder and a bag of scuba equipment on his back. Twelve years ago Simbine couldnt swim, despite growing up in a port city. Today, the 32-year-old is joining colleagues on a nearby beach to embark on a diving expedition in the Indian Ocean. They include a fellow Mozambican, a Senegalese and a Brazilian all young, black maritime archaeologists who are part of an international team exploring what they believe to be the wreck of an 18th-century slave ship. The team has gathered in Mozambique for two weeks of exploratory dives and classroom sessions coordinated by the Slave Wrecks Project SWP, a programme dedicated to searching for slave ship wrecks globally and to training Africans and people of African descent in underwater archaeology in a drive to equip communities with the knowledge and resources to identify, preserve and tell the stories of the wrecks in their waters. Celso Simbine prepares for the dive in Stone Town, Ilha de Mozambique