Shackles from the Deep: Tracing the Path of a Sunken Slave Ship, a Bitter Past, and a Rich Legacy

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, Gorée 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. (Jan.)