A program will be offered at Biscayne National Park this Saturday on the hunt for a slave ship that sank in the Florida Keys in 1827/NPS file

National parks harbor mysteries and surprises, as evidenced by the discovery back in 2014 of a 132-year-old Winchester rifle leaning up against a gnarled old juniper in the backcountry of Great Basin National Park in Nevada. They also contain chapters of history, one of which is being searched for in the waters of Biscayne National Park in Florida.

There park archaeologists are working with an international team of divers to search for the slave ship Guerrero. This ship wrecked in 1827 in the Florida Keys during a battle with a British anti-piracy vessel. Forty-one enslaved Africans died in the wreck. Hundreds of survivors were either recaptured and shipped to Cuba or transported to Key West for eventual settlement in Liberia.

On Saturday, at 6 p.m. at the park's Dante Fascell Visitor Center, a film will be shown about the search for the Guerrero, and archaeologists will be on hand to discuss the search, the Slave Wrecks Project, and other park shipwrecks.

“This event highlights some of the amazing work performed by the international team of archeologists and provides an excellent opportunity to learn about how submerged cultural resources are preserved and protected,” said Josh Marano, the park's archaeological technician.

The search for the Guerrero is being conducted by National Park Service archaeologists who are hosting a field school associated with the Slave Wrecks Project, an international network of researchers led by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Additional partners participating in the project include George Washington University, the Iziko Museums of South Africa, the National Association of Black Scuba Divers and the Diving With a Purpose program.