Authentic slave ball manufactured mid to late 1600s

Authentic slave ball manufactured mid to late 1600s (above, left), with unique handle (approx. 50 lb.), -- used on the known London-based slave ship, Henrietta Marie, the oldest identifiable slave ship wreck in the world (July 1700); featured in National Geographic's (August, 2002) -- for "trouble-makers", #3 written on it. A priceless artifact found in 1982 by a Navy-trained diver about 500 feet from the wreck site, who wrote about his find in an authentification letter, establishing provenance. Haven't seen anything quite like this artifact...

In 1699 the ship sailed from London to West Africa with a cargo of pewter, beads and other English goods. The ship then headed for Jamaica, where the captain sold the cargo of Africans. Most of the captives were headed for sugar plantations where they’d be worked to exhaustion, many dying within five to ten years. On the journey home to Great Britain, in July 1700, a fierce storm sank the ship of the coast of Key West, Florida.

By one estimate Henrietta Marie’s cargo grossed well over £3,000 (more than $400,000 today) for the ship’s investors. Sturdy and fast, the Henrietta Marie traveled the infamous triangular trade route favored by the slavers -- from England to the Guinea coast, to the Americas, then home again. Accounts relating to the Henrietta Marie’s voyages were uncovered, as were the names of her investors, captains, and wills of some of her crew members. Artifacts found at the site proved particularly helpful in creating a picture of shipboard life and the practices of the slave trade. An "impossible-to-find" item from this historic ship wreck...