Mobile, Ala. — Along the Mobile River, Ben Raines went to the spot where a dark piece of American history, buried deep in the mud, found the light of day.

"Here now we have the whole story. And the ship tells the story. It's a real object and this is the vehicle that brought these people and stole their lives from them," Raines said.

He began his search for the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring slaves to America, using historical documents, including the captain's journal. Last year, he pulled up pieces of a ship. Scientists confirmed it was the Clotilda.

"There is no more sinister slave story then this one. It was about a bet," Raines said.

In 1860, importing new slaves to the U.S. was a crime. But Alabama plantation owner Timothy Meaher wagered he could break the law and get away with it. He sent the ship to West Africa, which returned two months later with 110 slaves. Once unloaded, he ordered the captain to burn the vessel, to cover up the crime.

Joe Womack and Cleon Jones are from Africatown, the Mobile community settled by the Clotilda's freed slaves.

A mural of the Clotilda. Elias Williams/National Geographic

"They didn't find an old ship. They found history. These were strong people. Strong-willed people. And that's what came to America," Jones said.

Many direct descendants of the Clotilda slaves still live in Africatown, where today, they gathered to hear the details of the discovery.

"I'm emotional because of the fact that this ship has been found and it can't be denied now. It was covered up and everything else, now it's real," Womack said.

"It's not my story, but it's a story that needed to be told," Raines said.

Womack and Jones want the ship brought up and displayed in Africatown, so that this sunken Alabama story can become part of American history.