Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A memorial service was held at Cape Town’s famous Clifton beach last week for 200 African slaves who died on board a Portuguese ship which sank in 1794.
The wreck of the São José-Paquete de Africa, which was sailing from Mozambique to Brazil when it sank in turbulent waters near Cape Town, was recently discovered. Records show that an estimated 300 slaves survived the tragedy but were sold off in Cape Town soon afterwards.
There is a great deal of excitement over the finding because it marks the first time the wreckage of a slave ship that went down with slaves on board has been identified.
Leading anti-Apartheid activist Albie Sachs, who is a former constitutional court judge, addressed diplomats and community leaders at the beach.
The ship was making one of the earliest transatlantic trips which fuelled the slave trade from East Africa to the Americas. More than 400, 000 East Africans are believed to have made the epic voyage to Brazil’s sugar plantations between 1800 and 1865.
Some of the recovered objects from the shipwreck will be displayed at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
