FREEDOM schooner Amistad will return to Bermuda in 2008 during its epic 18-month journey commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the United Kingdom.The Amistad <$>is a replica of the original ship, La Amista>, that was commandeered by African slaves captured in 1839.

It departs from its home port of New Haven, Connecticut on June 21 for its historic 2007/2008 transatlantic voyage to promote the values of understanding and unity.

From its first stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Amista$>will travel to England, arriving in London in early August in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Abolition Act passed by the British Parliament.

The Amistad will then join in the Liverpool National Museum’s public opening of the International Slavery Museum on August 23, the UNESCO- designated Slavery Remembrance Day.

The ship sails on to Bristol before continuing its voyage to Portugal and the West Coast of Africa, marking major points in the history of the slave trade, and in December will sail into the harbour of Freetown, Sierra Leone, the original West African homeland of many of the Amistad captives. This symbolic “homecoming” will be a capstone event of the Atlantic Freedom Tour.

Amistad will return to the US via the Caribbean and Bermuda in the spring of 2008 as America commemorates the bicentenary of legislation to ban the importation of slaves.

The tour represents an opportunity to share the values of Amistad — freedom, collaboration, and justice — with communities around the Atlantic Basin with a particular outreach to linking students of all ages.

Ten college students from the UK and the US will augment the initial crew when it sets sail on its voyage to retrace the infamous slave trade route.

In addition to sailing duties, students will be responsible for class study on maritime and environmental studies, as well as the social and economic history of port cities and the legacy of the slave trade.

A total of 50 students from countries around the Atlantic Basin will participate as Amistad students/crew during the voyage.

[bul] The original Amistad story goes that in 1839, 53 Africans were kidnapped from West Africa and sold into the transatlantic slave trade. Shackled aboard the Portuguese slave vessel Tecora, the 49 men and four children were taken to Havana, Cuba, where they were fraudulently classified as native, Cuban-born slaves.

Purchased illegally by Spanish planters Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montez, they were transferred to the Amistad for transport to another part of the island.

Three days into the journey, led by a 25-year-old Mende rice farmer named Sengbe Pieh, or “Cinque” to his Spanish captors, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa.

After 63 days, La Amistad and its “cargo” were seized as salvage by the USS Washington near Montauk Point, Long Island, and towed to New London harbour.

The Africans were held in a New Haven jail on charges of murder and the case took on historic proportions when former President John Quincy Adams successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the captives. In 1841, the 35 surviving Africans were returned to Africa.