Biscayne, U.S.A.

Slave Wrecks Project has been engaged in underwater archaeological work inside Biscayne National Park in Florida, U.S.A., since 2012. Our work with our partners provides opportunities for underwater archaeology training for new generations of divers, archaeologists, and environmentalists.

Large group of divers investigating wreckage on ocean floor.

SWP has been engaged in underwater archaeological work inside Biscayne National Park in Florida since 2012. Early collaborations included non-destructive documentation of vulnerable sites co-led by the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center (NPS-SRC), National Park Service Southeast Archeological Center (NPS-SEAC), Biscayne National Park, and The George Washington University that provided training opportunities for partners from South Africa, Senegal, and Mozambique. 

Since 2018, the NPS-SRC has led SWP efforts with collaborators from the NPS-SEAC, Diving With a Purpose, and the Society of Black Archaeologists to document several shipwrecks. SWP team members from NPS-SRC have led the search on NPS property for the wreck of the ship Guerrero which sank in 1827 while carrying enslaved people. As part of the search for the Guerrero, the SWP team also helped investigate and document numerous magnetic locations identified during non-invasive magnetometer surveys.

SWP interns, 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern

SWP interns, 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern

Over two field sessions in 2018 and 2019, SWP helped train early-career maritime archaeology students and professionals in underwater documentation methods. Led by NPS-SRC, SWP participants helped document two nineteenth-century shipwrecks: Morgan and Boxcar. 

YDWP Divers 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern, NPS.

YDWP Divers 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern, NPS.

Since 2022, the NPS-SRC and DWP’s Youth Diving With a Purpose Program (YDWP) have collaborated with the Cultural Resources Division of the South Florida National Parks to host a SWP-supported graduate student intern. SWP Interns in this program assist the YDWP program, and work with NPS partners on a variety of projects—including the ongoing search for the Guerrero—which provides them with professional training and experience in maritime archaeology and in underwater cultural heritage management. 

Learn more about Analisa Freitas’ experience as a 2023 intern in Biscayne here.

In July 2023, the anchor of the wrecked steamboat St. Lucie was discovered by SWP partners and interns. The St. Lucie wrecked in Biscayne bay in October 1906. Read more about the discovery here.

Large group of divers investigating wreckage on ocean floor.

Summer 2023 interns Bria Brooks and Analisa Freitas with SWP NPS and DWP staff diving on a shipwreck site near Biscayne, Florida, U.S.A.

Two young women sitting at desk working together.

Analisa Freitas and Bria Brooks, 2023 Slave Wrecks Project NPS/DWP maritime archaeology interns.

Large group of young people on boat and dock around "Youth Diving With a Purpose" signs. Some are in dive gear and others are wearing red DWP t shirts.

Youth Diving With a Purpose participants, 2023.

Three women reviewing document together standing around a table.

Students/interns 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern, NPS.

Four people outside looking at something on the ground together. Two are in the foreground looking at something, and the other two are standing behind them, one taking notes on a clipboard.

Students/interns 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern, NPS.

Large group of divers smiling together on boat in the water.

YDWP participants, 2021. Photo by Susana Pershern, NPS.

A man is stepping off a boat named the "Cheeca View." The man wears a oxygen tank, diving fins and goggles. Behind him a man looks over the boat watching him jump. There is a sign next to the second man reading, "Horizon Divers." the ocean water takes up the bottom 1/4 of the frame.

Youth Diving With A Purpose training with the National Park Service. Photo by Brett Seymour, NPS.

A diver examines the ocean floor. He is wearing full scuba gear, including goggles, a wetsuit and oxygen tank. He holds a clipboard and is writing on it with a pencil. Below him the ocean floor is visible, on it a pile of wood with two orange flags sticking out.

Biscayne National Park, Florida.

Man is underwater in full scuba gear including goggles and fins. He is writing in a board while looking down at a ship's anchor laying on the sea floor covered in coral plants. Behind, the ocean floor is visible and an expanse on clear blue ocean.

Dr. David W. Morgan, formerly NPS Southeast Archeological Center, dives on a wreck off the coast of St. Croix, U.S.V.I. Photo by Susanna Pershern, NPS.

Four men sit on a bench on a boat. They are wearing a variety of swimming gear including swim trunks and wetsuits. The mean are talking and looking at theirs phones. Behind them the blue ocean is visible along with a blue sky marked by several white clouds.

Youth Diving with a Purpose participants, Biscayne National Park, Florida.

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