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Recovered Objects from the Wreck Site

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESURG INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY (UJ IR) - Forts of Sand: A Reimagining of Black Childhood through Critical Fabulation.
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: NOVEMBER 2021

While the remains of the São José-Paquete de África continue to elude divers, an iron ship ballast was discovered on site. A ship ballast was used to offset the weight of the human cargo on a ship due to its relatively light weight. This discovery was instrumental in the identification of the slave ship. Additionally, copper fastenings and copper sheathing were unearthed. (Catlin, 2021)

Between 2012 and 2013, the Slave Wrecks Project uncovered an archival document in Portugal stating that iron bars were loaded onto the São José before it departed for Mozambique, further confirming the site as the São José wreck.(How We Know What We Know: A Journey of Discovery, 2020)

Between 2012 and 2013, the Slave Wrecks Project later located a second document in Mozambique confirming the sale of a Mozambican onto the São José-Paquete de África.(How We Know What We Know: A Journey of Discovery, 2020)