INAH Confirms Historic Discovery of the Remains of the Steamship “La Unión”
The Subdirectorate of Underwater Archaeology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) confirmed the historic discovery of the remains of the steamship “La Unión,” located 3.7 kilometers from the port of Sisal and at a depth of seven meters.
Following documentary analyses in archives in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain, specialists identified the vessel as the first documented ship used for the forced transportation of Indigenous people in the American continent. It operated between 1855 and 1860 during the Caste War.
Despite the constitutional prohibition of slavery, private merchants and local authorities captured members of the Maya people to send them to sugar plantations in Havana through fraudulent contracts. The catastrophe involving the ship occurred on September 19, 1860, just hours after it departed, when a boiler explosion caused the structure to sink immediately.
The disaster resulted in fatalities that included all of the prisoners held in the hold, who had no means of escape or rescue because they were confined. Elements recovered from the seabed represent physical evidence of this chapter in the history of the peninsula.
Source: mexicodailypost
