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I discovered the Amistad when driving by New Haven harbor in Connecticut. As I often do when driving by water I was paying as much attention to watching the scenery as I was to driving. I had noticed a highway sign earlier that said "Schooners Amistad and Quinnipiack", and now could see Amistad's raked wooden spars standing proud of the otherwise uninteresting scenery along Long Wharf. As I drove by the where the Amistad was berthed, a ship unloading fuel oil at the depot across the harbor was, at one point, directly behind her rig, creating a visual contrast between the coastal trading ship of yesteryear and today. I continued on my way to work without stopping, as I would do hundreds more times before the morning when I knew that low, black schooner would figure into my future.
It was a cool fall morning last year when I finally decided to take a closer look at the Amistad. I was riding home from work after a twelve-hour night shift. It was calm and a slight mist hung over the harbor as the warm water gave up a little of the heat it had been gathering all summer. I pulled into the small parking lot at the end of the pier and paused for a moment, wondering if it was safe enough to leave my motorcycle there while I walked down to take a closer look at the ship. At that same moment, Ella, a deckhand aboard the Amistad, was in the kiosk next to the parking lot. She was just about to walk back down the dock as I removed the key from the ignition of my bike, tucked my helmet under my arm, and turned toward the harbor.
I saw Ella (I hadn't met her yet) leave from the kiosk and walk down the pier ahead of me. When I got down to the floating dock to which the Amistad was moored, Ella turned and walked up the gangway onto the ship. I hadn't expected anyone to be aboard, since it was early in the morning. I asked Ella if she worked aboard, and she replied affirmatively. We began talking, and I mentioned at one point that my college degree was in marine engineering. Soon I was being introduced to the then current engineer and invited to eat breakfast with the crew aboard.
It just happened that there was a need for a relief engineer and I happened to wander down the dock at the right time. I might not have hung around long enough to get involved with the Amistad if it hadn't been for the excellent food served aboard that morning, but the conversation over breakfast convinced me that I would be interested in working on this historic vessel at some point in the future. I wasn't immediately in a position to do so, however, as I already had a full time job and other obligations.
A few days after that first morning I was asked to work on a week long trip as the relief engineer. The week that I was needed just happened to be time that I had applied for months earlier to take as vacation from my full-time job. This is a very important coincidence, as I could not easily change my vacation time. Since I was free to do so, I accepted the temporary position enthusiastically. It was at that point that I began to really learn about the Amistad story. The more I learned about the incident in 1839, the current organization, and the mission of the ship, the more interested I became in working aboard. That fall week Sankofa program planted the seed that I would like to someday like to make a longer trip on the Amistad.
Several months later the company where I had been working was selling the site where I was employed, so I was taking active steps to find a new job, but my sights weren't set on the Amistad. I was planning to move overseas. It was out of the blue one day that I received an e-mail asking if I would be interested in working on this leg of the then upcoming Atlantic Freedom Tour. Once again, the timing was just right. I was going to be leaving my other job just before I would have to leave to join the ship. If I hadn't received that e-mail when I did, I would have had other commitments that would not have allowed me to join this ship.
Now that I am here, I feel privileged to be able to contribute to making this voyage possible. Everything worked out just right. I couldn't have set it up better if I had tried.
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