After setting the topsail this morning - making Amistad a true Baltimore Clipper - the quiet routines executed, we gathered the ship's company together for a community report and a class discussion of the celestial concepts the Amistad Africans might have been able to work with when they tried to sail back to Africa.

The conversation was fascinating as our now 5 Sierra Leonian crewmembers shared with us what they had understood about navigation back home. This question is most interesting as 3 of the Sierra Leonian crew are mariners: one life-long navy, one a marine engineer, and the third, Johnny, a self-taught fisherman, sailor, and nautical scout. Each one of them shared with us different ways in which they had come to understand navigation. The port engineer, Sia, speaks often of the confluence of three rivers in Freetown harbor - a confluence that effects every aspect of navigation from the timing and heights of tides, to the directional flow of the harbor waters - a fact which it appears makes calculating where north is dependent upon seasonal variations the water flow. The navy man, Vincent, told us how he was taught that the sun rises in the northeast and so if you face your forehead at the sun, north is over your left shoulder. Johnny had both the most experiential understanding of directions, having been taught to use landmarks to navigate by, but he also had some of the more interesting theories, such as north always being above your head. Even as Johnny was illustrating for all of us the theory he had been taught, you could watch him realize that north was not really above his head, but actually somewhere over the horizon.

Thus we began a discussion of how compasses seem to be taught to children - but for almost all the crewmembers the practicality of finding north or any other direction or knowing how to use a compass seems not to have been part of their experience or schooling.

Logan, our endlessly hard-working Chief mate, has been doing a tour-de-force of celestial navigation with over 30 reductions under his belt since we left Praia and more in the works as I write this. So far, he and I have been the only ones able to do the reductions - but today's class was our first introduction to all the crew that everyone will be taking sights and doing reductions soon. With the Southern Cross abeam thoughout the night; and the North Star peeking out through the clouds to the north; Orion passing overhead nightly; and planets, Scorpio, and several other constellations our constant companions... the opportunities for all of us - teachers, students and Amistad enthusiasts - are unlimited.... The GPS churns on in the background, but we are navigating by the wits and talents of some very special people out here....  As we said today - we will find Barbados using the very same ingenuity the Africans were trying to use to get back to Africa - but for this: no one is subverting our efforts.

Lastly, the Sun has now set, the Moon and stars are lighting up a dark sea, and the wind has died down, as it has every bight since we left Praia - leaving Amistad rolling uncomfortably on a lumpy sea with little wind to fill her sails. She lurches around making sleep hard to come by as we listen to the sails and rig slatting around and there is little we can do but steward her through 'til tomorrow's sunrise and the morning breeze.

Boa noite -  Eliza

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