INSPIRING GENERATIONS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY

Highlights of New Science Discoveries, Research Programs, and Initiatives 

The work of Smithsonian curators, historians, and scientists is essential to the Institution’s 

ability to meet the four grand challenges of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan: understanding 

and sustaining a biodiverse planet, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, valuing world 

cultures, and understanding the American experience. The following stories highlight a 

few of the many new discoveries, research programs, and initiatives that have occurred 

recently at the Smithsonian. These achievements reflect the immense resources and 

intellectual talent of the Smithsonian, as well as demonstrate its commitment to addressing 

issues and answering questions of global importance.

UNDERSTANDING AND SUSTAINING A BIODIVERSE PLANET

STRI researchers discover prehistoric thick-shelled turtle species that lived with

world’s biggest snake

The discovery of a new fossil turtle species in

Colombia’s Cerrejón coal mine by researchers from

the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) 

in Panama and the Florida Museum of Natural

History helps to explain the origin of one of the most

biodiverse groups of turtles in South America. 

Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki takes its genus name from

Cerrejón; emys is Greek for turtle. Its species name

is the language spoken by the Wayuu people who

live on the Guajira Peninsula in northeastern Colombia near the mine. 

About as thick as a standard dictionary, the turtle’s shell may have warded off attacks by

the Titanoboa, thought to have been the world’s biggest snake, and other crocodile-like

creatures living in its

neighborhood 60 million 

years ago. 

The fossils from Cerrejón 

provide a snapshot of the first

modern rainforest in South

America in a period after the

big Cretaceous extinctions and

before the Andes rose, modern

river basins formed, and the

Panama land bridge connected

North and South America.

The scientists are now trying

to understand why six of this

turtle’s modern relatives live

in the Amazon, Orinoco, and

The thick carapace (above right) of a newly discovered

prehistoric turtle likely protected it from attacks by 

predators such as the Titanoboa in what is now Columbia’s 

Cerrejón region. Directly above is an artist’s rendering of 

the Cerrejón region some 60 million years ago.
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Magdalena river basins of South America but one lives in Madagascar. This discovery helps

support the idea that the group originated near the tip of South America before the

continent separated from India and Madagascar more than 90 million years ago.

SERC ecologists discover forests are growing faster 

Speed is not a word typically associated with trees; they can take centuries to grow. 

However, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) scientists have found 

evidence that forests in the Eastern United 

States are growing faster than they have in the 

past 225 years. Their research offers a rare 

look at how an ecosystem is responding to 

climate change.

For more than 20 years SERC ecologist 

Geoffrey Parker has tracked the growth of 55 

stands of mixed hardwood forest plots in 

Maryland. The plots range in size, some of 

which are as large as two acres. 

Parker’s tree censuses have revealed that the 

forest is packing on weight at a much faster 

rate than expected. He and SERC postdoctoral 

fellow Sean McMahon discovered that, on 

average, the forest is growing an additional 

two tons per acre annually. That is the 

equivalent of a tree with a diameter of two feet 

sprouting up over a year.

Forests and their soils store the majority of the Earth’s terrestrial carbon stock. Small 

changes in their growth rate can have significant ramifications in weather patterns, 

nutrient cycles, climate change, and biodiversity. Exactly how these systems will be 

affected remains to be understood.

Parker and McMahon’s research focuses on the drivers of the accelerated tree growth. The 

chief culprit appears to be climate change. During the past 22 years carbon dioxide levels 

at SERC have risen 12 percent, the mean temperature has increased by nearly three-tenths 

of a degree and the growing season has lengthened by 7.8 days. The trees now have more 

carbon dioxide and an extra week to put on weight. Parker and McMahon suggest that a 

combination of these three factors has caused the forest’s accelerated biomass gain.

Two new frog species discovered by STRI scientists

While trying to stay ahead of the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis (commonly known

as chytrid) that has wiped out more than 100 frog species, scientists at the Smithsonian

Tropical Research Institute (STRI) continue to discover new frog species in Panama. Two

teams of researchers have named two new species so far in 2010: Pristimantis educatoris,

from Omar Torrijos National Park, and Pristimantis adnus, from Darien Province near the

Colombian border.

SERC scientist Geoffrey Parker, seen 

measuring the girth of tree trunks, and his 

colleagues found that climate change could 

to be driving accelerated tree growth in 

the Eastern United States.
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While collecting at Omar Torrijos National Park, a team of scientists noticed that a common

frog was much bigger than specimens collected elsewhere. Colleagues compared the

shapes of the frogs’ feet and toes with frogs in museum collections and concluded that the

bigger frogs were actually a species new to science—Pristimantis educatoris. On an earlier

trip in the Darien Province, STRI researchers and colleagues collected another new frog

species—Pristimantis adnus. Males are about two centimeters long; the skin of both sexes

are striped and mottled with several shades of brown. These two reports bring the total

number of frog species described in Panama and Costa Rica to 197. Nearly 15 percent of 

these frog species have been described only in the last seven years.

Chytridiomycosis was first described by a team of National Zoo scientists in 1999. In 2008,

researchers first detected the fungus to the east of the Panama Canal. During a collecting

trip in November 2009 to Chagres National Park, even further to the east, researchers were

dismayed to find that most of the frogs there were already infected and dying.

Cooper-Hewitt’s Critical Mass: Design and Urbanization addresses urban growth

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s groundbreaking 2007 Design for the Other 90%

exhibition has developed into an ongoing series that will continue to focus on design 

solutions that address the 90% of the world’s population not traditionally serviced by the 

professional design community. With the support of a significant grant from the 

Rockefeller Foundation, Critical Mass: Design and Urbanization, the second exhibition in the 

series, will examine the complex issues arising from the unprecedented rate of urban 

growth projected to take place over the next 20 years, primarily in the informal settlements 

Both Pristimantis educatoris (left) and Pristimantis adnus (right) were previously

unknown to science until recently discovered by Smithsonian researchers in Panama.

The Metro Cable System and Vertical Gym designed 

by Urban Think Tank connects the dense barrios of 

Caracas, Venezuela, to the city center’s commercial area 

and reduces a 21⁄2 hour commute to 20 minutes. The 

Vertical Gym is a prefabricated multilevel sports 

complex built on a small footprint that provides safe 

public space for sports recreation and public events. 

The design features recycled materials, wind towers, sun 

panels, and rainwater collection.
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in developing and emerging economies. Organized by Cynthia Smith, curator of socially 

responsible design, along with a 10-person advisory committee, the exhibition will explore 

the multidisciplinary, overlapping relationships among urban planning and design, 

education, social entrepreneurship, climate change, sanitation and water, migration, public 

health and affordable housing in these communities. The Museum will make the 

information it gathers about successful and innovative local and global design solutions

accessible through an online open-network database that will enable designers, 

communities, and other stakeholders to work together to develop design solutions to these 

challenges. This important dialogue will also continue through a scholarly catalogue and 

robust education programs.

SERC scientists discover key to invasive plants’ success is not simply a matter of taste

Plant flavor is an important area of study for ecologists examining invasive plants. A

common theory holds that the success of kudzu and other exotic plant species is due to

foreign biochemistry that makes them repugnant to native herbivores. Scientists at the

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), however, have cast doubt on this 

popular but little-tested idea. 

Using the taste buds of the woolly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia

isabella), ecologists Eric Lind and John Parker tested whether the

herbivore preferred eating native or exotic plants. The woolly

bear is common in the woods surrounding SERC and, unlike some

caterpillars that spend their entire lives feeding off one plant, the

woolly bear moves around as it munches. 

In one of the first studies to directly test the chemical defenses of native versus non-native

plants. Lind and Parker ran 800 feeding trials using 40 plant species. Collected from

Designed by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, the Floating 

School, Library, and Community Center provides 

computers, high-speed internet, and cell phone 

connectivity to students on Bangladesh’s Barnoi River, a 

low-lying delta that floods and displaces millions each

year. Sangstha modified traditional flat-bottom river 

boats with local materials and building methods to create 

boats that sit low in the water, have a flexible open space, 

and generate energy with solar panels.

Kaputei Town in the Kajiado District of Kenya was 

initiated by the Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-finance 

organization of more than 230,000 members that was 

started by 50 street families in 1999. Built on land

purchased by the Trust, the town will provide housing for 

up to 10,000 residents of overcrowded slums. The houses 

are built using local materials and labor, and Jamii Bora 

members receive loans to start small businesses and save 

enough to purchase a house in the Town.
5

nearby woods, 21 species were native and 19 were 

invasive. In each taste test they gave a caterpillar two

options: neutral food and food flavored with carefully

extracted plant essence. The plant essence contained

whatever chemicals each particular species manufactured

to help ward off herbivores. 

Lind and Parker discovered that the woolly bear

caterpillar had distinct preferences among the 40 plant

species. However those preferences had little to do with

whether the plants were invasive or native. In fact, three

of the top four plants that the caterpillar preferred are

invasive to Maryland: kudzu, wineberry, and autumn 

olive. 

Lind said that although people tend to “think of invasive

species as being super-plants that are able to avoid

getting eaten and can grow fast, our study suggests that

we should rethink these assumptions.”

Genetic analysis by SERC scientists reveals promiscuous nature of invasive reed

Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) made a significant 

advance in understanding how an invasive plant, Phragmites australis, has succeeded at 

blanketing as much as a third of the Chesapeake Bay's tidal wetlands. Among other 

impacts, P. australis challenges native flora for turf. Until plant ecologists Karin Kettenring,

Melissa McCormick, and Dennis Whigham looked into the problem, scientists and resource 

managers did not accurately understand how it was spreading. 

SERC scientists Eric Lind

(above) and John Parker

found that caterpillars show

no preference toward native

or invasive plants.

Phragmites australis, also known as the common 

reed, is an invasive large perennial grass now 

found in wetlands in every U.S. state, and is 

particularly invasive in the eastern states along 

the Atlantic Coast.
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Through extensive DNA analysis, the trio discovered that seeds are the secret to the 

invasive reed's success. The plant has been reproducing sexually. This finding replaces 

what had been the prevailing theory: that P. australis was spreading clonally, through 

underground stems called rhizomes. Unlocking the plant's reproductive mechanism will 

allow resource managers to better plan and execute strategies aimed at containing P. 

australis. The SERC scientists published their findings in the journal Wetlands and have 

been actively sharing their discovery with resource managers around the Chesapeake Bay. 

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics helps discover missing primitive stars

Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics were part of a team of

astronomers that recently discovered a relic from the early universe—a star that may have

been among the second generation of stars to form after the Big Bang. Located in the dwarf

galaxy Sculptor some 290,000 light-years away, the star has a remarkably similar chemical

make-up to the Milky Way’s oldest stars. 

Its presence supports the theory that our

galaxy underwent a “cannibal” phase,

growing to its current size by swallowing

dwarf galaxies and other galactic building

blocks.

Dwarf galaxies have just a few billion

stars, compared to the hundreds of

billions in the Milky Way. In the “bottomup model” of galaxy formation, large

galaxies attained their size over billions of

years by absorbing their smaller

neighbors.

Among the stars found in the Sculptor

dwarf galaxy was one faint, 18thmagnitude speck designated S1020549. 

Spectroscopic measurements of the star’s

light with Carnegie’s Magellan-Clay

telescope in Las Campanas, Chile,

determined it to have a metal abundance 6,000 times lower than that of the Sun; this is five

times lower than any other star found so far in a dwarf galaxy.

The researchers expect that further searches will discover additional metal-poor stars in

dwarf galaxies, although the distance and faintness of the stars pose a challenge for current

optical telescopes. The next generation of extremely large optical telescopes equipped with

high-resolution spectrographs, such as the proposed 24.5-meter Giant Magellan Telescope,

will open up a new window for studying the growth of galaxies through the chemistries of

their stars.

The newly discovered red giant star S1020549

dominates this artist's conception. The

primitive star contains 6,000 times less heavy

elements than our Sun, indicating that it formed

very early in the Universe's history.
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VALUING WORLD CULTURES

National Museum of the American Indian explores the “Royal Road of the Inka”

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is participating in an ambitious study 

of the Qhapac Ñan, or “Royal Road of the Inka,” a pre-Columbian road system that was 

essential to the economic and political power of the Inka Empire. Encompassing places and 

peoples throughout six nations (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), the 

project seeks to examine and understand the Inka Empire’s ability to develop a 

monumental and sophisticated road system that provided a major axis for communications 

and control of the Inka territories. The physical and cultural significance of the Qhapac Ñan

has been recognized by UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and led to its pioneering effort to 

coordinate, with the assistance of the six countries, the nomination of Qhapac Ñan for 

inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Qhapac Ñan project seeks to better understand the Inka sovereigns’ vision, including 

their drive to develop their empires and demonstrated engineering abilities. It will 

examine the road system’s ability to incorporate communities and support 

communications, the many products that traveled on the Qhapac Ñan, and the continuing 

use of many stretches of the Royal Road of the Inka. To preserve the rich cultural and 

artistic life that is still practiced by the descendants of the Inkas, NMAI researchers also are 

collecting ethnographic material and oral histories from traditional Quechua and Aymara 

communities. 

The Museum’s research will culminate in the future exhibition Qhapac Ñan: The Way of 

Inka, and will support scholarly publications, conferences, and public programs. Drawing 

from the Museum’s extensive collection of 350 archaeological and ethnographic objects 

related to the Inka period, the exhibition will consider the political and religious history—

and legacy—of the Inka through the Qhapac Ñan and include testimonials from 

contemporary Quechua communities and other Inka descendents, as well as previously 

unpublished colonial source materials. By examining the engineering and construction of a 

23,000-kilometre-long road network that was built without the aid of sophisticated tools, 

iron, or the wheel, Qhapac Ñan: The Way of Inka will present both the rise and the fall of the 

Inka Empire, and highlight contemporary communities’ persistent and faithful preservation 

of the Inka heritage, the prophecy of the Inkas’ return, and the faith in the return of better 

futures for indigenous communities.

Dr. Jose Barreiro (right), assistant director for the NMAI History and Culture Department 

and director of the NMAI Office for Latin America, and NMAI Board of Trustees member 

Jose Zarate examine Inka stonework in Cusco, Peru. 
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Three Smithsonian museums co-organize colloquium on conserving time-based art

In March 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), the National Portrait 

Gallery, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden co-organized the colloquium 

“Collaborations in the Conservation 

of Time-Based Media Art.” The 

three-day colloquium brought 

together curators, artists, 

conservators, exhibition designers, 

and audiovisual specialists to discuss 

the conservation of film, video, and 

digital art, including the 

collaborative efforts that provide for 

the proper interpretation, 

conservation, and exhibition of 

international works of time-based 

art. 

The colloquium concluded with a 

day-long working 

group/brainstorming session 

devoted to how the Smithsonian can 

become a leader in the field of timebased media conservation. The 

sessions attracted more than 50 Smithsonian staff, as well as more than 5,000 viewers via 

live Webcast, and were moderated by the Office of Planning and Analysis, which is 

preparing a report with recommendations based on the discussions.

John Hanhardt, SAAM senior media arts curator, provided the keynote address, 

Re:Presenting the Moving Image: Time-Based Art in the Museum and Other Spaces. Citing the 

work of the late Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik, whose studio archive was 

recently acquired by SAAM, Hanhardt discussed the challenge of establishing conservation 

practices that respond to and represent the full range of historical and contemporary art. 

The Hirshhorn hosted an evening lecture by Irish artist John Gerrard, whose work uses 

customized 3-D gaming software to reimagine landscape art. Representatives from the 

Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Indianapolis 

Museum of Art, and the Anthology Film Archives, as well as two professionals whose work 

involves time-based art or its conservation, also led sessions devoted to the challenges 

presented in the conservation of time-based art.

National Museum of African Art organizes African Cosmos: Stellar Art

National Museum of African Art Deputy Director and Chief Curator Christine Mullen 

Kreamer is preparing the major exhibition African Cosmos: Stellar Art, scheduled to open in 

June 2011. Accompanied by a comprehensive exhibition catalogue of the same name, 

African Cosmos: Stellar Art will be the first major exhibition that uses traditional and 

Electronic Superhighway, a 1995 video installation by 

Korean-born American artist Nam June Paik (1932–

2006), was one of several works discussed by SAAM 

senior media arts curator and keynote speaker John 

Hanhardt. 
9

contemporary African art to illuminate Africa’s 

contributions to the science and practice of 

astronomy and to show how celestial 

observations are central to social, cultural, and 

artistic expression. 

The show, part of a series of exhibitions 

developed by Dr. Kreamer to explore the 

intersection between art and knowledge, will be 

supported by multidisciplinary and multimedia 

educational programs and outreach activities 

designed to engage visitors in learning about 

African contributions to cultural astronomy and 

its connections to beliefs, values, and the arts.

Early African interest in and observation of the 

cosmos can be seen in the 5th millennium B.C.E. 

stone circle and megaliths of Nabta Playa, Egypt, 

that have been interpreted as some of the 

world’s earliest archeoastronomical devices that 

mark star alignments and the summer solstice. 

In African Cosmos, selected ancient Egyptian and Nubian works of art and centuries-old 

illustrated manuscripts from Timbuktu will frame the topic historically, demonstrating 

Africa’s early engagement with celestial observations and its connections to the visual arts. 

The African Cosmos project will 

demonstrate that observations of the 

heavens inform artistic expression 

and ritual practice in African 

cultures. Far from abstract concepts, 

African notions of the universe are 

intensely personal, and place human 

beings in relationships with earth 

and sky, including the celestial 

bodies of the sun, moon, and stars. 

Standing at the core of creation 

myths and the foundation of moral 

values, celestial bodies are often 

accorded sacred capacities and are 

part of the “cosmological map” that 

allows humans to chart their course 

through life. 

The exhibition will include contemporary African 

work, such as Untitled (Zulu series) (1989–90), an 

acrylic on canvas painting by South African artist 

Gavin Janties (b. 1948). 

African Cosmos will include 19th and 

20th century works of traditional 

African art that illustrate the use of 

astronomical knowledge as a rich source 

of metaphor in the arts. The masks 

worn by these Dogon, Mali, kanaga

dancers illustrate mankind’s intensely 

personal relationship with and between 

the earth and sky.
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UNDERSTANDING THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

National Museum of American History’s American Journeys Project

Understanding the American experience involves comprehending the centrality of 

immigration and migration, analyzing the social formulation of racial and ethnic identities, 

and considering the construction of new communities. In 2009, National Museum of 

American History (NMAH) curators collaborated with staff from the Latino Center, the 

Asian Pacific American Program, and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to launch 

the multi-year American Journeys project. Over the course of the project, staff will conduct 

field research and acquire objects emblematic of cultural identity. 

This past year, under a Latino Pool Initiative Grant, two curators in NMAH’s 

Division of Home and Community Life collected clothing that embodies the 

multiplicity of Latino and ethnic identities and relationships in Mexican 

American communities in San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Curators 

collected everyday wear and clothing worn for celebrations, including

clothing and objects from escaramuza riders, sewing cooperative workers, 

boot makers, pastorela participants, and mariachi singers. Because the 

quinceañera, or 15th birthday celebration for Latina girls, has become a 

momentous coming-of-age ritual in many Latino communities, an 

important acquisition was the quinceañera dress and related accessories 

worn by a Chicago Latina on the occasion of her quinceañera.

The collection of Asian American objects and clothing is supported by the

Asian Pacific American Program, which assisted in the acquisition of a

hanbok worn by a Korean-American adoptee when she arrived to meet her 

new American parents in 2003. The hanbok, a traditional dress worn on a 

Korean girl’s first birthday, complements the collection’s

1956 hanbok worn by one of the first Korean children 

adopted by an American family; the family subsequently

established the first inter-country adoption agency in the 

United States. Both dresses reflect the respect for cultural 

lineage that many adoptive parents foster in their 

children’s lives.

A very different immigrant story is portrayed by the trousers, blouse, and 

hat worn by Catherine Hann on her flight by boat from Vietnam to a 

Malaysia refugee camp in 1981. These recently donated objects tell of the

struggle to leave a familiar place to find a new life in America. 

Immigrants from all cultures are part of the American experience, and the 

collections must continually expand to reflect these stories. Staff are now focused on 

acquiring objects and stories that reflect the lives of East Indian and Muslim peoples, as 

well as continuing to research “descent communities” that have retained their ethnic 

distinctiveness in language, religion, foodways, dress, and other cultural practices. The 

many ways that ethnicity intersects with, complicates, and compliments the notions of 

“Americanness” demonstrate the diversity and cultural unity of the nation. 
11

National Museum of American History pursues research and scientific study of 

earliest American daguerreotype collections

National Museum of American History (NMAH) curator Michelle Delaney and NMAH 

Preservation Services Unit conservators recently coordinated a one-day XRF (X-ray) 

scientific analysis project for early American daguerreotype photographs by Henry Fitz Jr. 

The study also included photographic conservators and scientists visiting from The 

Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art. 

Fitz is considered to be one of the most important early American photographers. He 

worked in Baltimore and New York and produced what is considered to be the first 

American self-portrait. This and more than 20 other Fitz daguerreotypes are held in the 

NMAH Photographic History Collection, which comprises the largest known collection of 

Fitz images. With his business partner, Alexander Wolcott, Fitz developed and patented a 

daguerreotype camera—the first patented in America—that is also now part of the patent 

model collection at NMAH. 

X-ray and digital analysis showed ways that Fitz experimented with the daguerreotype 

process. Fourteen of 23 plates tested were standard, sensitized copper plates, but eight 

others were made of brass and zinc. 

The Fitz analysis is just one element of Delaney’s pan-institutional team project entitled 

“Inventing American Photography.” The first American photographers are well 

represented in both the NMAH and Smithsonian American Art Museum collections. The 

team is researching and exploring how American innovation and invention in the first 

decades of photography fostered a thriving and productive community of photographers 

who experimented and competed at an international level to advance the new medium. 

Supported by the Getty Foundation, earlier research in the project focused on the study and 

scientific analysis of NMAH’s 62 Hillotypes, a rare collection of early color photography 

experiments made on daguerreotype plates by Reverend Levi L. Hill in the 1850s. 

Museum of American History searches for historic American slaver wreck

The first-known American self-portrait, c. 1839, by Henry Fitz Jr.; an unidentified daguerreotype 

by Fitz; and the first American patent for a camera, a collaboration by Fitz and Alexander S. 

Wolcott, were among the objects studied by Smithsonian scholars and conservators from The 

Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the George Eastman House.
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Museum of American History searches for historic American slaver wreck

The captain of the slave ship Enrrique made a fatal error on January 8, 1817, while sailing 

for the safety of Cuba’s Matanzas Bay with his human cargo. Under hot pursuit by a British 

anti-slavery patrol vessel, the swift 100-

foot brig cut the shoreline too closely and 

struck a reef at the mouth of the bay. 

Enrrique was lost, including its entire 

cargo of enslaved Africans, estimated to 

be between 113 and 278 persons. By 

stark contrast, the entire crew managed to 

survive.

Enrrique began as the privateer 

MacDonough of Bristol, Rhode Island. It 

was built at the end of the War of 1812 by 

Captain Caleb Carr of Warren, Rhode 

Island, for wealthy Rhode Island 

merchant, slave trader, and U.S. Senator 

James DeWolf. MacDonough made a successful privateering voyage, but was forced to 

relinquish all of its captured British ships as the war had formally ended the prior month.

DeWolf promptly outfitted MacDonough for slaving between Africa and the West Indies. 

His nephew George DeWolf bought the ship and nominally transferred it to the Spanish 

firm of Disdier & Morphy in Havana, since slaving had been banned in the United States in 

1808. Although Enrrique Disdier gave the vessel his first name, recently discovered 

documentation reveals that its ownership remained with the DeWolf family, who had 

multiple plantations on Cuba, including one near Matanzas Bay.

Three significant factors make this shipwreck worthy of further investigation. First, no 

slave ship built, owned, or captained by Americans has ever been found. Second, of the 

handful of foreign slaver wrecks located to date, none was on the middle leg of the triangle 

trade when lost. Last, no wrecked slave ship has ever been found with its entrapped 

human cargo and their possessions. The remains of Enrrique will present all three.

In partnership with the National Museum of African 

American History and Culture, an application to 

search for the Enrrique wreck site has been filed 

with the Cuban Ministry of Culture. Led by 

American History Museum curator Dr. Paul F. 

Johnston, the project team plans to conduct an 

underwater archaeological survey for the wreck site 

in the summer of 2010. If found, the site promises to 

cast an unparalleled and unblinking eye on the 

realities of the American slave trade before 1820, 

when the implementation of the death penalty finally 

made it too risky for the direct trafficking of human 

cargo.

The original half hull “hawk’s nest” 

ship model, used for MacDonough’s 

construction at Caleb Carr’s Warren 

shipyard in 1815.

Detail of Jonathon Alger’s 1880 watercolor of 

the hermaphrodite brig MacDonough.