Background: The Guerrero was a Spanish pirate ship that sank off the coast of the Florida Keys, carrying 561 stolen Africans, 41 of whom drowned with the ship on December 19, 1827. The Guerrero’s captain, notorious pirate Jose Gomez, and his crew stole the Africans from two slave ships off the coast of Africa before setting sail for Cuba.
Although slavery was still legal in 1827, the slave trade was not. First outlawed in Britain in 1807, the United States followed in 1808, and Spain in 1820. Legalities of the slave trade were not largely enforced or communicated with Spanish Cuba, where slave auctions were still booming.
Although Captain Gomez charted a course through the Florida straits to avoid British patrols, the Guerrero was spotted 250 miles from Cuba by Lieutenant Edward Holland of the British HMS Nimble. Surprisingly, the HMS Nimble, which was used for anti-slave trade patrols and helped rescue captured Africans between 1826-1834, had formerly been a slave ship. The Nimble pursued the Guerrero for hours, facing storms, with both ships eventually hitting coral reef formations. The following day, December 20, 1827, two wreckers, Thorn and Surprize, and a fishing sloop, the Florida, found the stranded warship and pirate ship, with nearly 600 Africans and Spanish crew hanging on for their lives.
Many of the crew members and the Africans were rescued, but Gomez was relentless, the Thorn and the Florida were stolen and continued on to Cuba, with 398 captive Africans who were sold into slavery to join the 286,000 others enslaved there. [15] 122 survivors were brought to Key West. Six had died, several had gone blind, and others were suffering from dysentery when they were transferred to St. Augustine, under the care of U.S. Marshal Waters Smith. While waiting for confirmation from the government, he spent $3,000 of his own to provide for their care. President John Quincy Adams lobbied Congress to pass an act that would determine the future of the remaining Africans from the Guerrero. [16] The Africans in St. Augustine were forced to work on plantations while they awaited their fate.
Material Culture
The Guerrero was torn apart when it hit coral reefs in 1827 and has weathered hurricanes and tides for nearly 200 years. Remains of the ship have been scattered, and hundreds of other sunken ships in Biscayne Bay and the surrounding areas make it difficult to determine specifics. Most ships are identified by their bell, but the Guerrero was a pirate ship, so it is unlikely that it would have had an identifying marker. The length of time means human remains are also unlikely to be found.
Several artifacts recovered in Biscayne National Park and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park fit the time and place for the Guerrero and the ship’s chase with the HMS Nimble, including an anchor, iron ballast, and cannon balls, which match historical records from the crew of the Nimble, who threw cannon balls overboard to lighten the load and prevent the ship from sinking. Large iron ballast blocks “provided hydrodynamic stability,”[17] serving as a counterweight to the ship’s human cargo. Other artifacts believed to be from the Guerrero include “a cologne bottle from the early 1800s, bone china, lead shot, blue edged earthenware, metal rigging, copper fasteners, and wooden plank fragments.”[18]
Interdisciplinary Involvement
The search to locate the Guerrero began with the research and writing of Gail Swanson, a local Floridian turned Guerrero historian. In the early 1990s, Swanson was working odd jobs in the Florida Keys and began researching the Guerrero, which quickly morphed into a passion project. Her research also led to the discovery of a forgotten local African American cemetery at Higgs Beach in Key West, and ignited interest amongst archaeologists and historians in finding the sites of the Guerrero and the Nimble. Swanson sold her house to dedicate her time to her Guerrero research. Because she is not an academically trained historian, Swanson has struggled with others stealing her work – but it is because of her research that this sunken slave ship has been brought to light. Swanson searched several primary sources, including insurance records, ship manifests, captain’s logs, newspapers, government records, and oral histories.
With Swanson’s research, archaeologist Dr. Corey Malcom, Director of Archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum joined marine archaeologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to begin the process of locating the shipwreck. In 2003, Karuna Eberl, director and producer of The Guerrero Project documentary, contacted Ken Stewart, who was at the time the Southern Region Representative for the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS). She was looking for Black divers to interview for her documentary on the sunken slave ship. After getting involved, Ken Stewart connected with Brenda Lanzendorf, Biscayne National Park’s only archaeologist at the time, who wanted help documenting sunken ships in Biscayne. Together the two formed Diving With a Purpose and began recruiting and training other Black divers and volunteers in marine archaeology and preservation.
Historical Significance
The Guerrero was the first slave ship found in U.S. waters that sunk with enslaved Africans aboard.[19]
Because it sank in 1827 despite the slave trade being illegal, it provides insight into the U.S. and global economy and shows the lengths some were willing to go to continue profiting from the illegal capture and selling of human beings.
After nearly three years of politics and uncertainty, 121 surviving Africans were taken from St. Augustine as free men to live in Liberia, the American-controlled colony in Africa on September 30, 1829. Poor navigation, stormy weather, and an ill-equipped ship landed them in Barbados after 89 days. The journey was long, and more lives were lost along the way before the remaining 91 men who were rescued from the Guerrero and transported from Key West to St. Augustine landed back in Africa in 1830.
This was a unique case for many reasons: President John Quincy Adams became personally involved and the U.S. government funded the journey to Liberia. The Liberian colony was made up of African Americans, most of whom had been born in the United States. Although the Guerrero Africans had only spent a short time in the United States, the U.S. government feared sending them back to their home country might lead to their recapture and reenslavement.
The American-given names of the 91 African men who survived the voyage back to Africa were recorded, which has made it possible to trace the descendants of these survivors. Diving with a Purpose continues to research and document slave ships in Biscayne National Park and beyond, as well as lead educational training programs for both veteran volunteer divers and young, first-time divers in marine archaeology and advocacy. Through the Guerrero and DWP, hundreds of young Black students have been introduced to diving, marine archaeology, and ocean preservation. They’ve also learned about the history of the slave trade and the lives and stories of those who lived aboard slave ships.
At the time of writing, in December 2024, following twenty years of research on the Guerrero, Diving With a Purpose members are in Liberia, meeting with the descendants of the Guerrero survivors. This visit will include a symposium, interviews, filming, and discussions with living descendants about building a memorial park in their honor. Even if the Guerrero is never fully identified, the search has proven successful in locating living descendants, teaching
important and often overlooked history, and training hundreds of young adults and volunteers in
marine archaeology and conservation.
15. Gail Swanson, “The Wrecking of the Laden Spanish Slave Ship Guerrero off the Florida Keys, in 1827,” The African Diaspora Archaeology Network, September 2010, https://scholarworks.umass.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b3661636-5a0d-4127-964c-
915412e12dbd/content, 6.
16. The Guerrero Project (United States, 2005).
17. Irwin, Jessica, and Dave Conlin. “The Maritime Archaeology of Slave Ships:
Overview, Assessment and Prospectus.” Underwater Archaeology Proceedings, no. 2016 (2016): 73.
18. Ben Brotemarkle, “Florida Frontiers ‘Discovering the Slave Ship Guerrero,’” Florida
Historical Society, August 18, 2015, https://myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/article/82.
19. The Guerrero Project (United States, 2005).
Sunken Histories 