Amistad

Replica of The Amistad, at Mystic Seaport. The ship is known for an 1839 slave revolt, dramatized in a 1997 film by Steven Spielberg.

In 1839, Portuguese slave hunters kidnapped a group of Mende people from Sierra Leone and transported them to Cuba, in violation of anti-slave trade treaties. The schooner La Amistad was used to ship them from Havana to a Caribbean plantation. During the voyage, the Africans revolted, killed the ship's captain and cook, and ordered the remaining crew to set sail for Africa. However, the sailors actually sailed the ship north, and it was eventually intercepted by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Long Island and brought to New London, CT. The Africans were charged with murder, and though these charges were eventually dismissed, the plantation owners went to court to retain their right to enslave the men. The Africans, backed by abolitionist groups, sued for their freedom. The case went up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1841 ruled that they were free men, and that ". . . it was the ultimate right of all human beings in extreme cases to resist oppression, and to apply force against ruinous injustice."

This ship was built between 1998 and 2000 by shipbuilders and artisans at Mystic Seaport, in Mystic, CT. They employed traditional tools and construction techniques, though some modern materials and technology, including two diesel engines, were incorporated. With the original ship lost to history and no extant blueprints, the ship is not an exact replica of La Amistad, but an extrapolation based on general knowledge of this type of ship and contemporary art drawings of 19th century schooners. Originally built and operated by an organization called Amistad America, it is now owned by the non-profit Discovering Amistad, which uses it as a floating classroom for educational and promotional programs.