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Since construction of the Amistad got under way, more than 170 blacksmiths, sailmakers and carpenters have worked on the ship, often using such traditional tools as sharp chisels and broad axes. Of these laborers, only 28 have been full-time professional shipwrights. The rest have been students, volunteers and part-timers from as far away as Milan and Liverpool. The work has taken more than twice as long as it took to build the original. One reason: today's shipbuilders don't keep the sweatshop hours common among the workers on the original Amistad. Another reason is that the first Amistad, like many boats of the era, was intended to sail for no more than 10 years before being scuttled for scrap. "Our new ship is built to last decades," says Snediker.
As the ship is eased into the water this week, it will break a ceremonial chain, while its bell peals 53 times--once for each African. The ship is to be christened not with champagne but with a mixture of waters drawn from Connecticut, Cuba and Sierra Leone, the home of the kidnapped Africans. The Amistad's first stop after it leaves Mystic in July will be Operation Sail 2000 in New York harbor on July 4. Once that coming-out party is done, it will tack off into coastal waters, sailing from ports in the U.S. and perhaps Cuba and Sierra Leone to carry the tale of the long-ago ship in whose memory it was built. After 161 years, the Amistad name may at last be redeemed.