Diving With a Purpose: My Journey to Dive Clotilda

Now is the time for a descendant to dive the ship their ancestors arrived on, the Clotilda. My journey to dive the Clotilda began long before I earned my NAUI Open Water Certification in May 2023 through the Africatown Swim to Scuba program. It truly started with my grandmother, Beatrice Ellis (Mom Bea), whose stewardship and tireless work kept the history of my ancestors—Kupollee (Pollee), Rose, and their shipmates—alive through storytelling and community activities in Africatown. A dedicated memory keeper, Mom Bea ensured that my cousins and I attended the many festivals, programs, and events organized annually by her and other members of the Africatown Direct Descendants of the Clotilda, incorporated in 1984. Through those programs and her stories, I learned about Pollee and Rose Allen, two of the founders of the Africatown community. Mom Bea passed away in May 2011.

After her passing, my desire to learn more about my ancestors intensified. I reached out to authors, researchers, and anyone who could help fill in the gaps about the work of the Africatown Direct Descendants organization, my ancestors, and their shipmates. This included interviewing Sylviane Diouf, author of Dreams of Africa in Alabama, during a 2015 episode of my FreeLunch Podcast. Over the years, I continued speaking with relatives, former members of the original descendant organization, and reading works such as Dr. Natalie Robertson’s The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of Africatown, USA.

As public interest in verifying the Clotilda grew, I interviewed renowned maritime archaeologist Dr. James (Jim) Delgado several times about the ship and efforts to preserve it. Through those conversations, I became familiar with Kamau Sadiki and the work he was doing with Diving With a Purpose (DWP).

DWP and its partners launched the Africatown Swim to Scuba Program, giving direct descendants and Africatown residents the opportunity to learn to swim and eventually become scuba divers. Although I had learned to swim growing up in Mobile, Alabama, scuba diving had been an interest of mine since the early 2000s while living in Houston, Texas. The DWP program finally made that dream accessible. After multiple attempts—and eventually convincing Kamau of my commitment—he connected me with NAUI Instructor Courtlandt Butts in March 2023. My scuba diving journey began.

Earning my NAUI Open Water certification required several weeks of training. It began with preliminary swim tests, which Courtlandt and I completed during early-morning sessions— sometimes as early as 5 a.m.—at our local gym. On other occasions, we trained at Diver Supply, where the deeper pool allowed us to complete the required skills. Once those were met, I moved on to online coursework, testing, virtual instruction, and another written exam. Finally, we entered the pool to begin the scuba-specific portion of the training.

After several weeks, we traveled to Key Largo in May 2023 to complete my open-water dives in the Atlantic Ocean. Mission accomplished—but something deeper happened that weekend.

Whether it was the joy of achieving a long-held goal or the powerful conversations Courtlandt and I shared, something shifted during my flight home. I was no longer a recreational diver. I was Diving With a Purpose. Scuba diving had found me, and through it, a spiritual awakening and connection with my ancestors emerged. My purpose became clear: to dive the Clotilda and bring awareness to my ancestors, their shipmates, and the crime committed in 1860 when the 110 were brought to America.

With this shift, leveling up my diving skills became my focus. The vision sharpened, the ancestors’ voices grew louder, and I committed myself to becoming capable of diving the ship my ancestors arrived on. Later that same year, I earned my NAUI Advanced Open Water certification. I continued diving in the ocean to meet the criteria for applying to DWP’s Field School. After two years of dedicated training, I applied and was accepted into Field School XX in 2026. Weeks after completing Field School XX, I leveled up again by earning my NAUI Scuba Rescue Diver certification.

It is time for a descendant to dive the ship their ancestors arrived on. Through the Africatown Swim to Scuba program, my journey to dive the Clotilda is my Diving With a Purpose. My hope is that those in positions of authority allow the world to see, hear, and learn from a descendant who has dived his ancestors’ ship—and to learn about the people who arrived on it and the vessel itself.

Diving With a Purpose: My Journey to Dive Clotilda.

Note on DWP Field School: “The DWP field school is an intense full-week program that teaches the basics of underwater archaeology. This program consists of two and half days of classroom sessions and three days of diving and debriefs, ending with the final drawings of the wreck site… After the weeklong school, I successfully earned my graduation certificate.”