Everything about La Amistad totally explained
La Amistad (
Spanish: "Friendship") was a 19th-century two-
masted schooner of about 120 feet. Built in the
United States,
La Amistad was originally named
Friendship but was renamed after being purchased by a
Spaniard.
La Amistad became a symbol in the movement to
abolish slavery after a group of
African captives aboard revolted in July 1839. Its recapture resulted in a
legal battle over their status.
The Incident
On
July 2 1839, 53 Africans (49 adults and 4 children) being carried aboard
La Amistad from
Havana were led by fellow captive
Sengbe Peah, known in America as
Joseph Cinqué, in a revolt against their captors. After gaining control of the ship, the Africans demanded to be returned home, but the ship’s navigator deceived them about their course, and sailed them north along the North American coast to
Long Island,
New York. The
schooner was subsequently taken into custody by the
United States Navy and the Africans were taken to
Connecticut to be sold as slaves. There ensued a widely publicized court case in
New Haven, CT about the ship and the legal status of the African captives. At that time the transport of slaves from Africa to the
Americas was illegal, so they were fraudulently described as having been born in Cuba. It needed to be decided whether the Africans could be considered
salvage and the property of Naval officers who had taken custody of the ship, whether they were the property of the Cuban buyers, or of Spain as the Queen of Spain claimed, or lastly if the circumstances of their capture and transportation meant they were free. The issues became the focus of the
Amistad (1841) Supreme Court case, which figured prominently in
abolitionism in the United States.
The Ship
Strictly speaking,
La Amistad wasn't a
slave ship in the sense that she wasn't designed to transport
slaves, nor did she engage in the
Middle Passage of Africans to the Americas.
La Amistad engaged in shorter, coastal trade. The primary cargo carried by
La Amistad was
sugar-industry products, and her normal route ran from
Havana to her home port,
Guanaja. She also took on passengers and, on occasion, slaves for transport. The captives that
La Amistad carried during the incident had been illegally transported to Cuba aboard the slave ship
Tecora.
More Ships
True slave ships, such as
Tecora, were designed for the purpose of carrying as many slaves as possible. Some very large slave ships carried up to 400 slaves. One distinguishing feature that enabled this amount of efficiency was the half-height
between decks, which allowed slaves to be chained down in a sitting or lying position, but which were not high enough to stand in, and thus were not suitable for any other cargo. The crew of
La Amistad, lacking the slave quarters, placed half the captives in the main hold, and the other half on deck. The captives were relatively free to move about, and this freedom of movement aided their revolt and commandeering of the vessel.
Later years
After being moored at the wharf behind the Custom House in
New London,
Connecticut, for a year and a half,
La Amistad was auctioned off by the
U.S. Marshal in October 1840. Captain George Hawford, of
Newport,
Rhode Island, purchased the vessel and then had to get an
Act of Congress passed so that he could register her. He renamed her
Ion and, in late
1841, sailed her to
Bermuda and
Saint Thomas with a typical
New England cargo of
onions,
apples, live
poultry, and
cheese.
After sailing her for a few years, he sold the boat in
Guadeloupe in
1844. There appears to be no record of what became of the
Ion under her new
French owners in the
Caribbean.
La Amistad in culture
On
2 September 1839, a play entitled
The Long, Low Black Schooner, purporting to be based on the revolt, opened in
New York City and played to full audiences.
La Amistad was painted black at the time of the revolt.
A 1997 film,
Amistad, directed by
Steven Spielberg, examines the historical incident.
Artist
Hale Woodruff completed a mural depicting the events that occurred on board the
Amistad. The six-panel sequence is on display at the Savery Library (named for founder
William Savery), on the campus of
Talladega College,
Alabama. A mural of the ship itself is also embedded in the floor of the library, and school tradition dictates that it not be trodden on.
In honour of the described events, the name "Amistad" is carried as a street in a China-town of
Havana.
Pusha T of hip-hop supergroup
Re-Up Gang reference La Amistad in their song "20k Money Making Brothers on the Corner" from their mixtape with the lyrics
"Big chain around my neck like I’m fresh off The Amistad... We won’t stop ‘till you give us us free"
Freedom Schooner Amistad
Between 1998 and 2000,
Freedom Schooner Amistad, a recreation of
La Amistad, was built in
Mystic Seaport,
Mystic,
Connecticut, using traditional skills and construction techniques common to wooden schooners built in the
19th century, but using modern materials and engines. The modern day
Amistad isn't an exact replica of
La Amistad, as the ship is slightly longer and has higher freeboard. There were no old blueprints of the original. The new schooner was built using a general knowledge of the Baltimore Clippers and art drawings from the era. Some of the tools used in the project were the same as those that might have been used by a 19th century shipwright while others were electrically powered. Tri-Coastal Marine, designers of
Freedom Schooner Amistad, used modern computer technology to provide plans for the vessel. Bronze bolts are used as fastenings throughout the ship.
Freedom Schooner Amistad has an external ballast keel made of lead and two
Caterpillar diesel engines. None of this technology was available to 19th century builders.
Freedom Schooner Amistad is operated by
Amistad America Inc., a
non-profit organization based in
New Haven, Connecticut. The ship's mission is to educate the public on the history of
slavery,
discrimination, and
civil rights. Her homeport is New Haven, where the
Amistad trial took place. She also travels to port cities for educational opportunities. The
Freedom Schooner Amistad is the State
Flagship and
Tall ship Ambassador of Connecticut.
The Atlantic Freedom Tour
Freedom Schooner Amistad set sail on
June 21,
2007, from New Haven on the "
Atlantic Freedom Tour
", a 14,000-mile transatlantic voyage to
Great Britain,
Lisbon,
West Africa, and the
Caribbean to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the
Atlantic slave trade in
Britain (1807) and the (1808). The ship arrived in
Bristol on
30 August.
London was one of the ports of the
United Kingdom portion of the
Amistad's Tour. The schooner sailed up the
Thames under the
Tower Bridge on
August 14,
2007, and moored for several days in
London Docklands, where she attracted a great deal of attention.
August 23,
2007, UNESCO's designated International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade, which fell during the ship's visit to
Liverpool, was marked by the opening of the
International Slavery Museum in Liverpool - the first museum of its type to open in the United Kingdom.
Further Information
Get more info on 'La Amistad'.
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