The Clotilda, the last American slave ship, has been found, the Alabama Historical Commission announced Wednesday.

“For nearly 160 years, the waters around Mobile have concealed the final destination of the Gulf Schooner Clotilda,” the statement read.

The Clotilda, captained by shipbuilder William Foster, sailed into Mobile Bay with 110 African men, women, and children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 23 on board, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. The ship illegally transported 110 people from Benin in Africa to Mobile from February to July 1860.

“After their secret arrival—in 1820 the introduction of Africans was declared an act of piracy punishable by death—about 25 young people were sold upriver to slave brokers, but the majority remained in Mobile. Thirty-two became the property of Timothy Meaher, who had financed the expedition, and his brother James enslaved eight others, including Cudjo Lewis; twenty were sent to Burns Meaher’s plantation in Clarke County; between five and eight went to William Foster as payment for the trip; and others were bought by plantation owner Thomas Buford. The young Africans were employed as deckhands, field hands, and domestics,” the entry continues.

“Residents of Africatown have carried the memory of their ancestors who were forcefully and violently migrated from Africa to the shores of Alabama. Since then, the final chapter of the Clotilda story has been shrouded in mystery,” the historical commission statement continued.

The Africans spent the next five years as slaves during the American civil war, freed only after the South had lost the conflict. Unable to return home to Africa, about 30 of them used money earned working in fields, homes and vessels to purchase land from the Meaher family and settle in a community still known to this day as Africatown.

The ship was found in April 2018 near Twelve-Mile Island in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

“The discovery of the Clotilda is an extraordinary archaeological find,” said Lisa Demetropoulos Jones, State Historic Preservation Officer and Executive Director of the Alabama Historical Commission. “The voyage represented one of the darkest eras of modern history and is a profound discovery of the tangible evidence of slavery.”

“We are cautious about placing names on shipwrecks that no longer bear a name or something like a bell with the ship’s name on it,” said Dr. James Delgado, a maritime archaeologist and project manager for the dig, “but the physical and forensic evidence powerfully suggests that this is Clotilda.”

Delgado credited former AL.com and Press-Register reporter Ben Raines with being the first person to touch the Clotilda since it sank and putting a spotlight on the then-potential discovery.

“We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the role of Ben Raines. Ben brought international attention to this … and I think in no small way [the find] has come as a result of Ben’s initiative and determination. He may not have been in the water with us because of all those restrictions on diving, but he certainly has been part of this in a whole range of ways,” Delgado said. “There’s no one person, there’s a whole group of people [who discovered the Clotilda] …and Ben Raines is certainly a key member of that group, and he’s the first to actually drop down on it and touch that wreck.”

Raines, who previously alerted experts to a ship that could have been the Clotilda that ultimately was determined not to be the sunken slave ship, said he was stunned over the discovery.

“It feels much better to be the guy to find it on the second try than to be the guy that found the wrong ship twice,” he said.

According to the historical commission, confirmation of the discovery was made through comparisons of the schooner’s unique size, dimensions, and building materials comprised of locally sourced lumber and “pig iron” that found an exact match to the specifications of the Clotilda as outlined in historic registries.

“Experts were able to observe the exceptional construction and determine the ship was built prior to 1870,” the statement continued.

“The vessel remains also showed signs of burning, which is concurrent with Captain Foster’s claim that he burned the Clotilda after scuttling her. A detailed survey of all surviving historical survey records for schooners in the entire Gulf of Mexico region, and including those of the port of Mobile, found only four vessels built in the size range as this wreck; only one, Clotilda, out of some 1,500 vessels assessed in the archival records, matches the wreck.”

Delgado explained that experts “worked throughout this to prove that it’s not” the slave ship but “everything kept coming up with a match for Clotilda.”

A descendant of one of the Africans who was brought to the South aboard the ship said she got chills when she learned its wreckage had been found.

“I think about the people who came before us who labored and fought and worked so hard,” said Joycelyn Davis, a sixth-generation granddaughter of African captive Charlie Lewis. She added, “I’m sure people had given up on finding it. It’s a wow factor.”

State Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, announced the discovery today on the senate floor.

“I have to tell you, this is huge. As you all remember, the first news came out when they thought it was the Clotilda but we learned that it wasn’t. Well now we know that it is. And this could be such a huge, huge tourist attraction for Alabama," Figures said.

5 Slave ship Clotilda found in Alabama

“This is a significant day for the people of Africatown but also for Alabama and our nation,” added U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope. “We should seize upon this opportunity to help us better understand our complex American history. Harry Truman wisely said ‘the only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.’ Let’s use the discovery of the Clotilda to learn more about our history so we can discuss how best we can move forward together.”

Alabama state Rep. Napoleon Bracy, a Democrat who represents House District 98, which includes much of Prichard, said the discovery could have far-reaching impact.

“It shows where the last African-Americans were brought over,” he said. “It’s really going to do a lot to put the Prichard-Mobile-Africatown area on the map, in terms of historical significance.”

Officials said they are working on a plan to preserve the site where the ship was located and plan to present a report on the findings at a community center in Africatown next week.

AL.com journalist Mike Cason and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Updated at 7:39 p.m. The ship was found by Raines in April 2018, not December.