Mexico identifies submerged wreck of Mayan slave ship

The bow area of the Mayan slave ship La Union, off Sisal (Helena Barba/INAH via AP)

Archaeologists in Mexico say they have identified a ship that carried Mayan people into virtual slavery in the 1850s, the first time such a ship has been found.

The wreck of the Cuban-based paddle-wheel steamboat was found in 2017, but was not identified until researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History checked contemporary documents and found it was the ship “La Union”.