Hector Posset, the ambassador of the Republic of Benin, cracked the seal on a bottle of gin as we neared the wreck.

Travelling aboard my boat, we had come up the Spanish River, through its confluence with the Mobile River to 12 Mile Island, following the exact path that the Clotilda, the last American slave ship, used to smuggle the final 110 slaves brought in bondage from Africa to the United States.

Posset arrived in Mobile two days after news broke that a burnt ship the size and age of the Clotilda had been found in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, the swamp where the captain claimed he set it afire in 1860. In a previous article, I relied on historical evidence and analysis by archaeologists to suggest that the 19th century wreck I found might be the Clotilda, which was burned after it arrived here with a last load of slaves from Benin.

I had been asked to take the ambassador upriver to the site by Dr. Sharon Ingram, chair of the state-sponsored Alabama Benin Trade and Cooperative Forum, so that he might offer libations and perform traditional rituals practiced in his homeland.

Floating a few feet from the hull of what may be the Clotilda, the ambassador, wearing a necktie and pinstripe suit, shook water and then gin from two bottles over the wreck. In low, forceful tones, he spoke directly to the wreck in a Beninese dialect, his voice often colored with anger. Then, taking a slug from the gin bottle, the ambassador began spraying mouthfuls of liquor over the wreck. Tears streamed from behind his sunglasses.

The moment was a profound one for Posset. Not only does he hail from Benin, once known as the Kingdom of Dahomey, where the Clotilda captives were first captured by fellow Africans and then sold to the Americans, but Posset is actually a descendant of the nation's royal family. By the 1800s, the King of Dahomey was making about a quarter of a million dollars a year selling Africans to Europeans, Americans and Brazilians, according to historical records. To put that number in perspective, a quarter of a million dollars in 1860 would be worth roughly $50 million today. The prosperous kingdom was notorious as a hub of the slave trade, and home to the door of no return, through which millions of slaves, including perhaps the Clotilda captives, passed as they were transferred to slave ships for the middle passage.

Asked to explain the words he spoke over the wreck, Posset covered his eyes for a moment as he regained composure and stifled a sob.

"I am just begging them to forgive us, because we sold them. Our forefathers sold their brothers and sisters. I am not the person to talk to them. No! May their souls rest in peace, perfect peace. They should forgive us. They should," Posset said, wiping tears from his cheeks. "Qualified people will come and talk to them in due time. I feel so sad."

Posset explained that the qualified people will be "voodoo priests," from Benin, who will come if the identity of the wreck is confirmed as the Clotilda. The ritual Posset performed was part of Benin's traditional religion, Vodun, which places great importance on the veneration of ancestors, who are believed to linger alongside the living. Vodun gave rise to the various forms of Voodoo that evolved in slave nations, such as Haiti, the United States, Brazil and Cuba.

Ambassador Hector Posset spills gin over the wreck believed to be the Clotilda, the last American slave ship. He was performing a Vodun ritual.

"I am a prince of Dahomey," Posset explained later. "It was my ancestors who did this. We have ancestors who came here to this country forced. Forcibly, they didn't choose. I am not insulting those who came here who were forced to come, because they were forced. I am insulting those who sold them back home. No means, no money, no articles, no stuff can buy life, but we sold our people. Brothers sold brothers and sisters. Fathers sold kids and wife. I will never blame those who came here. I will always beg them for forgiveness."

Posset said that even today, people in Benin do not like to sit beside a door when visiting friends.

"That was how you ended up sold. Your friend, your relative, he would already have sold you before he invited you over. He would sit you by the door so when they came at the appointed time, they opened the door and grabbed you. This was even how the heirs to the king would move ahead in line to the throne, selling off rivals," Posset said.

The journal of William Foster, the captain of the Clotilda, provides a detailed historical document regarding the slaving operations in Dahomey at the time of his journey.

"Having gotten ashore safely, I met with interpreter who kindly congratulated me and gave me in charge of three natives, who put me in a hammock with canopy and carried me into the city of Whyda, (modern day Ouidah) six miles distant: Upon arrival, I found splendid accommodations for traders. I spent the night in 'Merchant Exchange.' Having breakfasted early I with Cicerone sallied forth to see the city and transact my business with the Prince. Cicerone presented me to the ebony Prince, a man of 250 lbs.

"Presentation consisted of myself and fifty officials, all of whom fell on their knees in acknowledgement of His Majesty. We then partook of social drink, and then I told him my business, that I had nine thousand dollars in gold and merchandise and wanted to buy a cargo of negroes, for which I agreed to pay $100 per head for one hundred and twenty-five. After detaining me for eight days, I thought him purposing my capture..."

It is interesting that Foster feared capture. At the time, slavery was still legal in the U.S., though importation of slaves had been a crime since 1808. Most of the slave trade from Africa was focused on Brazil by 1860, which continued importing slaves until 1885. It is not hard to imagine that the King of Dahomey considered a double cross of an American he knew was breaking the laws of his home country.

"Having agreeably transacted affairs with Prince, we went to the warehouse where they had in confinement four thousand captives in a state of nudity from which they gave me liberty to select one hundred and twenty-five as mine, offering to brand them for me, from which I peremptorily forbid. Commenced taking on cargo of negroes, successfully securing on board one hundred and ten."

During his time in Dahomey, Foster passed a large square, which he recognized as a place of worship. He described it this way:

"A large square of ground with a wall ten-feet high upon which was covered with snakes. Trees in there were loaded with the repulsive things, reveling in their deified elation. Devotees attending had them wound around their necks and waists, and had the appearance of our rattlesnake. From thence I went to see the King of Dahomey."

Posset said that both Alabama and New Orleans figure prominently in stories passed down from parents and grandparents in Benin to their descendants regarding the slave era. Many ships left the Kingdom of Dahomey bound for Gulf Coast ports, and efforts have been underway for several years to reconnect descendants of slaves to their native lands. In fact, John Smith, a former mayor of Prichard, Alabama, insisted on being buried in Benin as part of this reconciliation.

"He is buried in Benin," Posset said. "This is my work now, bringing reconciliation."

Beginning in the late 1990s, the city of Prichard and the state of Alabama entered into various agreements with Benin to promote trade and reconnection between the Clotilda descendants and their native homeland. The captives brought aboard the Clotilda are the only group of African slaves who know precisely where they were taken from, precisely when it happened, the name of the ship that brought them, and where they ended up once in the United States.

Many of those aboard the Clotilda ultimately settled in a community they created near Mobile known as Africatown. The captives were freed just five years after they were enslaved, thanks to the end of the Civil War. The group, 110 strong, originally asked their captor, an Alabama steamboat captain and plantation owner named Timothy Meaher, to pay for passage back to Africa. After he refused, they appealed to the U.S. government, again to no avail. Ultimately, some members of the group bought a small piece of land north of Mobile from Meaher and created Africatown, where some of the descendants of the original slaves still live. They spoke their native tongue, farmed using traditional African methods, and ran their own school. They created a small piece of Africa in coastal Alabama. Today, Africatown suffers from profound neglect. Residents hope the possible discovery of the ship may bring some attention and prosperity to this unique piece of the nation's slavery history.

Posset said the possible discovery of the Clotilda was a landmark event.

"Should it be confirmed to be the Clotilda, you will see big people coming from Benin," Posset said. "I told the mayor of Prichard this morning, that for the first time in our 60 years of history in Benin, this is the first time we have a son of Ouidah as president. He is doing everything possible to reconnect us to our history. (Africatown) and Prichard, Alabama is one place. Brazil is another. We are working to reconnect, so we are hopeful this is the ship. It symbolizes many things for us."

Finding the Clotilda 44 Gallery: Finding the Clotilda

Ben Raines specializes in investigations and natural wonders. You can follow him via Facebook, Twitter at BenHRaines, and on Instagram. You can reach him via email at braines@al.com.

You can watch Ben's most recent documentary, The Underwater Forest, here on Youtube.