La Amistad

This article is about the ship. For other meanings, see Amistad.

La Amistad (Spanish: "Friendship") was a 19th-century two-masted schooner of about 120 tons displacement. 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. Its recapture resulted in a legal battle over their status.

The incident

In 1839, Africans being carried aboard La Amistad from Havana were led by fellow captive Joseph Cinqué in a revolt against their captors. Their transport from Africa to the Americas was illegal, and they were fraudulently described as having been born in Cuba. After the revolt, 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, who were deemed salvage from the vessel, were taken to Connecticut to be sold as slaves. There ensued a widely publicized court case about the ship and the legal status of the African captives. This incident figured prominently in abolitionism in the United States.

Strictly speaking, La Amistad was not a slave ship in the sense that she was not 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.

True slave ships, such as Tecora, were designed for the purpose of carrying as many slaves as possible. One distinguishing feature 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 53 captives in the 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 of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg, examines the historical incident.

In the years 1998-2000 the re-created Amistad was built in Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut using traditional skills and construction techniques common to wooden schooners built in the 19th century. 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, the modern Amistad has an external ballast keel made of lead and two Caterpillar diesel engines. None of this technology was available to 19th century builders. The re-created Amistad is not an exact replica of the original La Amistad.

The new Amistad is operated by a Amistad America Inc - a not for profit organization based in New Haven, CT. The ship's official name is the Freedom Schooner Amistad. Her mission is to educate the public on the history of slavery, discrimination, and civil rights. Her homeport is New Haven, Connecticut, where the Amistad trial occurred. She also travels to port cities for educational opportunities. The replica is the State Flagship and Tall ship Ambassador of Connecticut.

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.

Whitney Houston's references the Amistad in her song "My Love is Your Love."

See also

• The Amistad, a Supreme Court case arising out of the rebellion aboard the ship
• Amistad (film), a movie about the court case.

External links

• Amistad: Some historical considerations.
• Amistad America FAQ

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