La Amistad facts for kids
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La Amistad off Culloden Point, Long Island, New York, on 26 August 1839
(contemporary painting, artist unknown) |
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 Spain |
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|---|---|
| Name | La Amistad |
| Owner | Ramón Ferrer |
| Acquired | pre-June 1839 |
 United States |
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| Name | Ion |
| Owner | Captain George Hawford, Newport, Rhode Island |
| Acquired | October 1840 |
 France |
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| Acquired | 1844 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 120 ft (37 m) |
| Sail plan | schooner |
La Amistad (which means Friendship in Spanish) was a two-masted sailing ship from the 1800s. It became famous in July 1839 because of a slave revolt. This happened when Mende people, who had been captured illegally in Sierra Leone, were being transported on the ship.
Two Spanish plantation owners bought 53 captives, including four children, in Havana, Cuba. They were moving them on La Amistad to their farms. The revolt started after the ship's cook joked that the captives would be "killed, salted, and cooked." Joseph Cinqué, a Mende man, managed to free himself and others. They took control of the ship, killing the captain and the cook. Three Africans also died in the struggle.
Cinqué ordered the Spanish owners to sail back to Africa. But the owners secretly sailed north, along the coast of the United States. They hoped the ship would be stopped and the Africans returned to slavery. A US ship, the revenue cutter Washington, captured Amistad near Montauk Point in Long Island, New York. Cinqué and his group were caught and put in jail in New Haven, Connecticut. They were accused of murder and piracy.
None of the 43 survivors spoke English, so they couldn't explain what happened. Eventually, a language professor named Josiah Willard Gibbs Sr. found an interpreter, James Covey. This is how the story of their kidnapping became known. The case went to court and became known as United States v. The Amistad. In 1841, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the Mende people were free. This case became a powerful symbol in the movement to end slavery in the United States.
Contents
The Amistad Ship's Story
What Was the Amistad?
La Amistad was a two-masted schooner, about 120 feet long. In 1839, it was owned by Ramón Ferrer, a Spanish person. It's important to know that La Amistad was not a typical slave ship. It wasn't built to carry many enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, it was used for shorter trips around Cuba and nearby islands. Its main cargo was usually sugar products. Sometimes, it carried a small number of passengers or enslaved people being moved for sale around the island.
The 1839 Slave Revolt
On June 28, 1839, La Amistad left Havana, Cuba. Captain Ferrer was taking general goods and 53 enslaved Africans to a sugar plantation. These 53 Mende people (49 adults and four children) had been taken from their homes in Sierra Leone. They were illegally brought from Africa to Havana, mostly on another slave ship called Teçora. They were then sold into slavery in Cuba. Even though the United States and Britain had stopped the Atlantic slave trade, Spain still allowed slavery in its colonies.
Since La Amistad wasn't designed for slaves, half the captives were put in the main storage area and the other half on deck. They had some freedom to move, which helped them plan their revolt. In the main hold, the captives found a rusty file. They used it to saw through their chains.
Around July 1, once they were free, the men below deck quickly went up. They were armed with machete-like knives. Led by Joseph Cinqué, they attacked the crew and took control of the ship. They killed the captain and some of the crew. But they spared José Ruiz and Pedro Montes, the two Spanish owners of the enslaved people. They needed Ruiz and Montes to guide the ship back to Africa.
The Journey and Capture
The Mende people demanded to be taken home. However, the navigator, Montes, tricked them about the direction. He sailed the ship north along the North American coast. They eventually reached the eastern tip of Long Island, New York.
On August 21, 1839, the Amistad was found about thirty miles southeast of Sandy Hook. A pilot-boat called Blossom found the ship and gave the men water and bread. When the men tried to get onto the pilot-boat to escape, the pilot-boat cut its rope to Amistad. The pilots then reported what they thought was a Slave ship to the Collector of the Port of New York.
The US naval ship USS Washington discovered La Amistad while doing surveying work. The Washington then took La Amistad into United States custody.
The Important Court Case
The officers from the Washington ship started the first court case. They wanted to claim the ship and its contents as "salvage" (property found at sea). A second case began in a Connecticut court. This was because the state arrested the Spanish traders for illegally enslaving free Africans.
However, the Spanish government demanded that Amistad and its "cargo" (meaning the enslaved people) be returned to Cuba. They wanted the "slaves" to be punished by Spanish authorities. The US President at the time, Martin Van Buren, agreed with Spain. But his Secretary of State, John Forsyth, explained that the president could not order the release of Amistad or its cargo. This was because the president could not interfere with the courts under American law. He also couldn't release the Spanish traders from jail in Connecticut.
People who wanted to end slavery, called abolitionists, formed the Amistad Committee. They raised money to help defend the Amistad captives. Former President John Quincy Adams even represented the captives in court.
A very public court case took place in New Haven to decide what would happen to the ship and the Mende captives. If they were found guilty of mutiny, they could be executed. They became a popular cause for abolitionists in the United States. Since 1808, the United States and Britain had made the international slave trade illegal. To get around this law, the ship's owners lied. They said the Mende people were born in Cuba and were being sold in the Spanish domestic slave trade.
The court had to decide if the Mende people were property that could be claimed by the naval officers, by the Cuban buyers, or by Spain. A key question was whether the way the Mende people were captured and transported meant they were legally free. If they were free, then their actions were self-defense, not mutiny.
After lower courts ruled in favor of the Africans, the United States v. The Amistad case went to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1841, the Supreme Court ruled that the Mende people had been illegally transported and held as slaves. It said they had rebelled in self-defense and ordered them to be freed. Even though the US government didn't help them, 35 survivors returned to Africa in 1842. Funds were raised by the United Missionary Society, a Black group founded by James W. C. Pennington, who was an abolitionist.
What Happened After?
After being docked in New London, Connecticut, for a year and a half, La Amistad was sold at auction in October 1840. Captain George Hawford bought the ship and renamed it Ion. In late 1841, he sailed Ion to Bermuda and Saint Thomas. He carried typical New England goods like onions, apples, live chickens, and cheese.
After sailing Ion for a few years, Hawford sold it in Guadeloupe in 1844. There are no records of what happened to Ion after its new French owners took it over in the Caribbean.
Amistad's Lasting Legacy
Freedom Schooner Amistad at Mystic Seaport in 2010.
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 United States |
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| Owner |
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| Builder | Mystic Seaport |
| Launched | March 25, 2000 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 136 L. tons |
| Length | 80.7 ft (24.6 m) |
| Beam | 22.9 ft (7.0 m) |
| Draft | 10.1 ft (3.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail, 2 Caterpillar diesel engines |
| Sail plan | Topsail schooner |
The Amistad Memorial stands in front of New Haven City Hall and County Courthouse in New Haven, Connecticut. This is where many of the events related to the Amistad took place in the United States.
The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, studies slavery, abolition, civil rights, and African American history. It honors the slave revolt on the ship. A collection of portraits of La Amistad survivors are kept at Yale University. These were drawn during the survivors' trial.
Building a New Amistad
Between 1998 and 2000, skilled workers at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, built a copy of La Amistad. They used old shipbuilding methods from the 1800s but also added modern materials and engines. This new ship is officially named Amistad and is known as the "Freedom Schooner Amistad." It's not an exact copy of the original because there were no old blueprints. The new ship is a bit longer and sits higher in the water.
The new schooner was built using general knowledge of ships from that time and old drawings. Some tools used were like those from the 1800s, while others were modern power tools. The designers used computers to plan the vessel. The ship has bronze bolts and a heavy lead keel for balance. It also has two diesel engines. None of this modern technology was available in the 1800s.
The "Freedom Schooner Amistad" was run by Amistad America, Inc. Its goal was to teach people about the history of slavery, abolition, unfair treatment, and civil rights. Its homeport is New Haven, where the original Amistad trial happened. It has also visited other cities for educational events. It was also the official Flagship of Connecticut. The ship made special trips in 2007 and 2010 to celebrate important anniversaries related to the end of the slave trade. After a two-year repair from 2010, it was mainly used for sea training and film work.
In 2013, Amistad America, Inc. lost its status as a non-profit group. This was because it didn't file tax returns for three years, and there were concerns about how public money was being used. The company later closed down. In November 2015, a new non-profit group, Discovering Amistad Inc., bought the ship. The Amistad is now used again for educational activities in New Haven, Connecticut.
See also
In Spanish: La Amistad (barco) para niños
