For Immediate Release

It will then sail to Liverpool for the opening of the International Slavery Museum where the ship will be steered into Albert Dock by former Deputy Prime Minister and seaman John Prescott. The Amistad will arrive in Liverpool on the afternoon of Sunday 19 August.

The Amistad will then sail and moor in Bristol and London before resuming its world-wide tour, stopping at Portugal, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the Caribbean and the US. During its stay in each port, the Amistad will be open for visits and lectures from the crew.

During its transatlantic journey, the crew have coped with high seas, seen dolphins and exchanged greetings with the Queen Mary 2.

The schooner was due to arrive in UK in London on August 1 but a detour to the Azores to deal with a crew members’ minor injury meant that the Amistad’s London leg had to be rescheduled to September and presented an opportunity for Amistad to visit Falmouth.

The arrival of the Amistad in the UK marks a significant point in the 16-month 14,000 mile ‘Amistad Atlantic Freedom Tour’ sponsored by Delta Airlines to retrace the infamous slave trade triangle, which includes a ‘homecoming’ trip to Sierra Leone.

In addition to sailing duties, the students have been 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 serve as Amistad crew during the voyage. Through live web casts and email correspondence to participating schools and museums across the globe, students aboard the ship will share their learning experiences with other students of all ages. The web casts and email are expected to connect several million students worldwide, making the Amistad a floating classroom.

In December, Amistad 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. 

Julia Goldsworthy MP said: “I’m honoured to help welcome the Amistad to Falmouth and the UK.

“The Amistad story is a vital part of the bitter history of the slave trade, when people were treated like property.

“We mustn’t forget the contribution the Amistad captives made to the eventual abolition of slavery – their actions were as influential as those of William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson or Olaudah Equiano.

“Amistad will engage in excellent educational activities at each port city. This outreach work – particularly with families and children – will be hugely important in raising awareness of the legacy issues of slavery and fostering a greater sense of honesty and community. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to see the Amistad and learn more about its remarkable story.”

AMISTAD America Chairman William Minter said: “We’re delighted to start our historic UK tour in Falmouth. It truly is a pleasure.

“Now is the time for the message of Amistad to be heard. “This tour represents an opportunity to share the values of Amistad  - freedom, collaboration, and justice - with communities in the UK. 

“53 West Africans were forcefully captured from their home and fought for their freedom on board the original Amistad in 1839. Now 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade, the Amistad arrives in the UK to mark Britain’s important role in the road to emancipation of all slaves.”

Imogen Ashfield, one of the students on board added: “We all really couldn’t wait to sail into Falmouth.  But for me what I’ve been noticing is how I’m torn: I’ve loved being on the Amistad, experiencing this different way of life, trying new things and learning, but I miss my family and friends and the freedom I had on land, just even to do the simplest things like going for a run!

“The weather has at times been fantastic and the surroundings were so picturesque.  The same day I saw a whale I later read how the former slave Olaudah Equiano saw one too on his passage, which was an incredible feeling. This journey has been the experience of a lifetime and something I will never, ever forget.”

Michael Simon added: “I am ready to go back to my life and every person and possession that comes with it however mundane it may be. Saying that I have been infected with a wanting desire to see the world now. I’ll never forget my time on the Amistad.”

Nadia Waithe said: “Being junior watch leader on the Amistad has really helped me to step up in life and to have more confidence. It’s been such an unbelievable journey."

For fellow student, Saphra Ross there’s one thing she’s been missing – chips from her local fish and chip shop.

She added: “How I miss those thick, melt-in-your-mouth chips covered in salt and a bit of tomato sauce. I had planned to go on a detox when I get off this boat but I think I’m going to have to alter my plans a bit. Indulge, then detox!”

The Amistad will return to the United States via the Caribbean and Bermuda in spring of 2008 and travel to multiple ports coming up the East Coast as the US commemorates its bicentenary of legislation to ban the importation of slaves.

AMISTAD America, Inc. is not-for-profit US based charity that promotes improved relations between races and cultures through educational programs and Amistad schooner port visits. 

The Amistad's tour of the UK is being supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the former British Empire.

For further information, photography or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Katharine Preece This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 0207 299 8778 or mobile 07818 868 722.

Outside the UK:  Carleen Lyden-Kluss - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it – 001 203 260 0480

South West News Service will be providing pictures from 15:00 Weds 8 August. Contact Natasha Bloor at South West News Service on +44 (0 117 906 6550 - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

For further information please visit http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/slavery/index.htm

To find out more about the Amistad Atlantic Freedom Tour, visit www.amistadamerica.org

Notes to Editor:

1.     Amistad America, Inc. is a national, non-profit educational organisation that promotes improved relationships between races and cultures and strives to educate the public on a unique and relevant event in U.S. history through their educational programme

2.     Amistad America, Inc., was created as a consortium between Mystic Seaport, the Connecticut Afro-American Historical Society, the Amistad Committee of New Haven, Amistad Affiliates of New York and other interested individuals working in partnership to promote the Amistad project.

3.     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 (three girls and a boy) were brought 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 schooner 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 her “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. 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

4.     Imogen Ashfield is 17 and from Eltham in London. She is currently in her first year of her A levels at Crown Woods School in Greenwich studying: English Literature, History, Art and Politics. Imogen, whose mother’s family comes from South Africa, said: “The Transatlantic slave trade is arguably one of the most definitive, influential and interesting developments during the history of the past two centuries.

Imogen enjoys playing both netball and football and is currently playing for London Girls FC. She feels that she can use these team-working skills and apply them to the voyage. In the future, after studying English at university, Imogen hopes to become a music journalist.

Saphra Ross from Montpelier, Bristol is 20 years old and is currently studying a degree in Law at the city’s University of the West of England. Saphra is also a Mentor and Windsor Junior Fellowship Ambassador. Her duties involve assisting teaching, tutoring and mentoring pupils year 6 to year 11, being an inspiration to young black people and helping them to reach their dreams.

Nadia Waithe from Montpelier, Bristol is 22 years old and is currently doing a BA Hons in Popular music at the University Of Glamorgan.

She has a keen interest in the slave trade having been on an Archaeology dig, with 14 other students to work and study the slave traders on a sugar plantation in Nevis in St Kitts in the Caribbean.

Michael Simon from Toxteth in Liverpool is 19 years old and works part time as well as studying at Liverpool Community College. Michael’s studying Art, English, IT at college and plans to undertake a degree in September 2007 at the University of Liverpool.

He works as a carer for Fusion, which entails him working with young children with severe autism and accompanying young people with severe disabilities on day excursions and holidays. He has also worked with young people from the Somali Community of Liverpool in assisting them with language needs.

5.     Key dates of the tour

Aug 8-11                                        Falmouth, UK (Falmouth Docks)

Aug 19 – 26                                    Liverpool, UK (Albert Dock)

Aug 23                                            UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day

Aug 29 – Sept 9                             Bristol, UK

Sept 13 or 14                                 Arrival in London (South Quay, Canary Wharf)

Sept onward                                  Lisbon, Portugal; Madeira Islands; Tenerife, Spain; Dakar,Senegal; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Barbados; Puerto Rico; Bermuda; Charleston SC; Hampton Roads,VA, Washington, DC; Baltimore, New York, and other east coast  cities

6.     The international voyage will retrace the infamous slave industry triangle with stops at more than a dozen Atlantic ports that played a significant role in the trade and reflect today’s social, political and cultural character.  Ports of call include Halifax, Nova Scotia; Falmouth, Liverpool, Bristol, London; Lisbon and Madeira, Portugal; Tenerife, Spain; Dakar, Senegal; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Praia, Cape Verde;  Barbados; Puerto Rico, Bermuda and the east coast of the United States.

7.     Delta Airlines is an official sponsor of the Amistad Atlantic Freedom Tour

8.     The International Slavery Museum, part of National Museums Liverpool, will open on 23 August, Slavery Remembrance Day 2007, a day that commemorates an uprising of enslaved Africans on the island of St Domingo (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1791. Designated by UNESCO, the date was chosen as a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation. Liverpool, central to the transatlantic slave trade in the 18^th century, is a fitting location in which to commemorate the anniversary of this important landmark.

The galleries at the International Slavery Museum will feature new dynamic and thought-provoking displays about the story of the transatlantic slave trade. Crucially, it will include new displays about the legacy of transatlantic slavery and will address issues such as freedom, identity, human rights, reparations, racial discrimination and cultural change. The museum will also seek to address ignorance and misunderstanding by looking at the deep and permanent impact of slavery and the slave trade on Africa, South America, the USA, the Caribbean and Western Europe

A second phase of the project, due to open in 2010, will include the development of a new visitor-focused education centre with an events programme of performance, public lectures and debate using the newly-acquired Dock Traffic Office. A research institute based in the museum is being developed in partnership with the University of Liverpool

David Prescott

Head of Media

Geronimo Communications

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