Key West's accredited maritime museum holds the world's largest artifact collection from a slave ship — the Henrietta Marie, wrecked 1700
200 Greene St, Key West, FL 33040
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Admission fees; see museum website. Conservation lab tours included weekdays 11:30am and 2pm, weekends 2pm.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Museum building with standard interior access; artifact handling available in conservation lab
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1700 · World's Largest Slave Ship Artifact Collection (Henrietta Marie) · Henrietta Marie — English Slave Ship, Wrecked 1700 · Nuestra Señora de Atocha — 1622 Spanish Galleon Treasure · Mel Fisher Archaeological Legacy · Only Fully Accredited Museum in the Florida Keys
The Henrietta Marie was an English merchant vessel built in France in the 17th century and later acquired by English owners, possibly as a prize of war. In 1699, the ship began a triangular trade route: carrying trade goods — iron, copper, glass beads, cloth, and brandy — to Africa's Guinea Coast (present-day Nigeria), loading 191 captive Africans at New Calabar, and transporting them across the Atlantic to Jamaica in the spring of 1700. The 191 people were sold into slavery there. The ship loaded sugar and other goods for the return voyage to England.
While navigating around Cuba to access the Gulf Stream, the Henrietta Marie struck New Ground Reef near the Marquesas Keys, approximately 35 miles west of Key West. The ship sank in the late summer of 1700 and all aboard perished. The wreck went unlocated for nearly 280 years.
In 1972, a magnetometer survey conducted by a subsidiary of treasure salvor Mel Fisher's company, Treasure Salvors, Inc., located the wreck site. The ship's identity was confirmed when excavators recovered a bronze ship's bell inscribed 'The Henrietta Marie 1699.' Formal excavation between 1983 and 1985 recovered more than 7,000 artifacts from the site, including more than 30,000 glass beads and more than 80 iron shackles (bilboes) — instruments used to restrain captives during the Middle Passage. The Henrietta Marie collection represents the largest assemblage of material evidence from any identified slave ship in the world.
The museum holding this collection is the only fully accredited institution in the Florida Keys, operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and archaeological facility. A memorial plaque was placed at the wreck site in 1993. In November 2024, the museum opened 'Spirits of the Passage,' a comprehensive exhibit examining the transatlantic slave trade and its Florida Keys connections through artifacts, educational panels, sound recordings, and large-scale graphics.
The museum also holds substantial collections from the 1622 Spanish galleons Nuestra Señora de Atocha and Santa Margarita, gold, silver, and emerald treasure recovered by Mel Fisher's team in a 16-year search that ended in 1985.
Sources
The Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum does not carry a paranormal narrative. Its place in dark tourism comes from the weight of the objects it holds.
The 80-plus iron shackles recovered from the Henrietta Marie wreck are among the few surviving physical artifacts that were in direct contact with enslaved people during the Middle Passage. They are not theatrical. The 'Spirits of the Passage' exhibit, opened in November 2024, frames the Henrietta Marie's voyage within the broader history of the transatlantic slave trade and its specific Florida Keys connections — the wreck site 35 miles from Key West places this history geographically close to the museum floor.
The memorial plaque placed at the wreck site in 1993 was organized by the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, who have led annual commemorative dives to the site. The wreck itself — accessible only by boat at depth — draws divers who travel specifically to witness the site.
For visitors who engage with the 'Spirits of the Passage' exhibit, the 7,000-plus artifacts from the Henrietta Marie constitute a document of the trade in physical form: the glass beads used as currency for human lives on the Guinea Coast, the shackles used during the Atlantic crossing, the bell inscribed with the ship's name and year. The museum's accreditation reflects the seriousness of its scholarly and conservation work with this material.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided access to the museum's full collection, including the Henrietta Marie slave ship artifacts, 1622 Spanish galleon treasure from Nuestra Señora de Atocha and Santa Margarita, and the 'Spirits of the Passage' exhibit on the transatlantic slave trade. Conservation lab tours allow visitors to handle artifacts and observe active archaeological preservation work.
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