Near replica of Amistad to join regatta Ship on which slaves revolted depicted in Spielberg film

Chicago's summer regatta of tall ships will feature a virtualreplica of La Amistad, the infamous schooner depicted in the StevenSpielberg movie about a slave rebellion that challenged U.S. law.

Sailing the boat into Chicago will be shipmaster and nativeChicagoan Bill Pinkney, 67, the first African American to sail soloaround the globe.

Beginning July 30 through Aug. 4, "you'll see up to 30 majestictall ships docking at Navy Pier, the Chicago River and DuSableHarbor" in the biggest tall ships festival ever on the Great Lakes,said Jim Law, director of the Mayor's Office of Special Events.

Freedom Schooner Amistad is scheduled to be docked at Navy PierJuly 26-Aug. 13.

Since its launch in 2000, the near replica has educated Americansin other ports and set off discussions, soul-searching and townmeetings, Pinkney said.

"What this should do for all people is to understand what canhappen when people of goodwill and faith come together around aproblem that faces us as human beings and are willing to take astand," Pinkney said.

In 1839, 49 men and four children were kidnapped from what is nowSierra Leone in West Africa and illegally sold into slavery, but a 25-year-old Mende rice farmer named Sengbe Pieh, renamed "Cinque" by hisSpanish captors, led a revolt.

It's believed the slaves organized after the ship cook used handgestures--possibly in jest--that led them to think they were going tobe killed and eaten, according to the Amistad America foundation.

The captives used sugar cane knives stored with them in the holdto take over Amistad. The cook, the captain and a slave were killedin the process.

"They simply wanted to go home," Pinkney said.

The Amistad was seized by a U.S. naval ship, and the Africans werecharged with murder.

But black and white abolitionists seized on the case, according toChicago's DuSable Museum of African American History.

Former President John Quincy Adams argued for the captives beforethe U.S. Supreme Court, which ended in the first court- orderedfreeing of slaves in the United States.

During the Amistad's docking in Chicago, Pinkney will be on deck"as much as possible," he said.

The re-created Amistad is 136 tons, 126 feet long and 91 feethigh. Average speed is 10 knots an hour. It can travel about 100miles a day.

It's a sailing ship, but it is longer than the original toaccommodate engines for when there is no wind.

The Amistad carries shackles, but since it was a cargo ship, it re-creates the nautical feel of the 19th century rather than represent aslave ship, said ship Master Bill Pinkney.

It features video presentations on the Amistad mutiny, sketches ofthe captives and reproductions of letters of former President JohnQuincy Adams, who backed freedom for the slaves.

To learn about Amistad, log on to www.amistadamerica.org.

Daily passes for tours of the tall ships will cost $8, andmultiday passes will sell for $15.

Maureen O'Donnell