The Wanderer was one of the last documented ships to bring Africans to the United States. It docked at Jekyll Island, Georgia, on November 28, 1858.
While slavery still flourished in the United States, the importation of enslaved people from Africa had been outlawed since 1808. The owner, captain, and financial backers of the pleasure yacht-turned-slave ship set out to openly defy federal law on the eve of the Civil War.
This guide will help you discover library resources that tell of the history of the infamous ship and the fates of its 487 African captives and its notorious captain and crew.
Tyler Bagwell of College of Coastal Georgia produced a documentary about The Wanderer which first aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting in 2019. The Wanderer: A Story of Slavery, Survival and the Strength to Prevail is available in Films on Demand, a GALILEO database.
Credit: Illustration of people on a slave ship, c. 1790 (Public Domain)
Credit: The Wanderer (1857). U.S. Naval Historical Center image via the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (Public Domain).
Dark Places of the Earth by 
Freedom in White and Black by 
Recaptured Africans : Surviving Slave Ships, Detention, and Dislocation in the Final Years of the Slave Trade by 
The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book by 
Slavery and Freedom in Savannah by 
The Slave Ship: A Human History by 
The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of AfricaTown, USA by 
The Slave Ship Wanderer by 
The United States and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the Americas, 1776-1867 by 
The Voyage of the Slave Ship Hare by 
The Wanderer (Brunswick and Camden) by 
