Ruthie Browning dove into the calm, blue water off Key West, Florida, expecting to see a large rock covered in marine growth. Instead, she found herself on a pilgrimage with other Black divers and community members, visiting sacred sites including the resting place of the British slave ship Henrietta Marie, which sank 326 years ago.
The vessel had transported 200 enslaved people from West Africa to Jamaica and was returning to Britain in 1700, at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, when it was lost in the turbulent waters of New Ground Reef, where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico. Today, a concrete marker commemorates those aboard.
As Browning and her group prepared to dive in early May, the water was calm, and the marker, 20 feet below, was visible from the surface. She thought she would simply pay her respects, but unexpected emotions overwhelmed her. Tears filled her eyes, and she felt a connection to her ancestors, hearing their words: "My daughter, we're so glad you're here."
Staring at the monument, now a living reef with corals and sponges, Browning felt submerged in gratitude. "Without their stamina, spirit, and survival, I wouldn't be here today," she said.
Pilgrimages Aren't Meant to Be Easy
The gathering in Key West was an act of devotion, a quest for connection and spiritual nourishment for future generations. Last summer, choppy waters prevented their dive. "The ancestors were not smiling down on us then," said Jay Haigler, master diving instructor with Underwater Adventure Seekers, the world's oldest Black scuba diving club. "This year was different."
Michael Cottman, who has written two books about the Henrietta Marie and helped install the marker in 1992, believes the site holds "spiritual turbulence." "Even if it wasn't carrying enslaved people, it embodies the oppression of our people," he said.
The group organized annual pilgrimages in the 1990s, but they lapsed. The latest trip was inspired by an underwater interview project proposed by Stanford University anthropologist Ayana Omilade Flewellen, who serves on the board of Diving With a Purpose, a nonprofit dedicated to documenting slave shipwrecks. The submerged interviews helped her connect as a pilgrim. "I felt a kind of tenderness in my heart," she said, processing a traumatic history rooted in death and suffering.
Ancient Ritual at African Refugee Cemetery
The pilgrims also gathered on land at Higgs Beach, visiting a memorial and burial ground for 297 African refugees who died in 1860 after being rescued by the U.S. Navy from three slave ships. Over 1,400 refugees were housed and cared for, but hundreds died due to horrific ship conditions, said Corey Malcom, lead historian at the Florida Keys History Center.
Discovered by historians and geologists using ground-penetrating radar, the grave site was largely forgotten for decades. In 2010, a pit containing 100 more bodies was found at a nearby dog park. On Saturday, the group held a libation ceremony, an ancient Afro-Caribbean ritual. Members tearfully thanked their ancestors and poured white rum on the beach, believed to invite ancestral souls for blessings.
"To honor your ancestors and the road they've traveled is very important because we're all connected," said Addeliar Guy, an elder and avid diver.
Underwater Monument Represents a Living History
Joel Johnson, president and CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, trained for weeks for his first open-water dive at the Henrietta Marie site. He was surprised by the vibrancy around the monument: fish darting among corals, shells on the sandy bottom. "This was not a place of death, but a place of life," he said. "I didn't feel like I was grieving; I felt like I was in the stream of history."
Underwater, Michael Philip Davenport, president of Underwater Adventure Seekers, felt inspired to create art showing ancestors emerging from the monument. "Their spirituality is still in that space," he said.
Dr. Melody Garrett, an anesthesiologist, has trained with Diving With a Purpose since 2011 and joined missions to find the Guerrero, a Spanish pirate ship that wrecked in 1827 carrying enslaved Africans. She believes pilgrimages like this are crucial now, citing efforts to remove references to slavery and Black history at federal sites. "Black people have been here since before this country's inception," she said. "This is our country."
Exhibit Displays Shackles Used in Slave Trade
Remnants of the Henrietta Marie's wooden hull remain buried under sand. The shipwreck was discovered in 1972 by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, but intact items were recovered in 1983. Only a few slave ships have been found out of 35,000 used to transport over 12 million enslaved Africans; most were intentionally destroyed. Artifacts at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum include over 80 sets of iron shackles, many child-sized.
Kory Lamberts, who runs a nonprofit for aquatic equity, said the exhibit's creaking wooden planks evoked a visceral response. "These are baby shackles. There's no sugarcoating it," he said. After the dives, the group ate fish from the site, which Lamberts imagined absorbed ancestors' DNA. "I wasn't just bonded with this site through experience, but at a molecular level," he said.
