Revolt

The Revolt
Mutiny on the Amistad
The Trip to Puerto Principe usually took three days however, on the second day the winds began to shift. The Captain, knowing the voyage would take longer than expected, severely cut the slaves food rations. On June 30, 1839, the third day out, a slave named Sengbe (who was given the spanish name, Cinque) removed a loose spike from the deck. Back in the slave hold he used the spike to unlock his shackles and the shackles of his fellow captives. The Africans had been led to believe that once they reached their destination, the spanairds would slaughter and eat them. Afraid for his life and the lives of the others, Sengbe armed himself and the others with sugar cane knives he found in the ship's cargo hold.
At 4:00am, Sengbe led the other captives on deck where they killed the Captain Ferrer and the cook, but not before the captain killed two slaves. The two seaman escaped in a small boat. Ruiz and Montez were spared and brought to the quarterdeck where Singbe ordered them to sail the vessel toward the rising sun, in otherwords, east to Africa. Montez, however, sailed west hoping to remain in Cuabn waters. The winds ended up taking the vessel northeast in a zigzag along the United States coastline for two months. During that time eight more slaves had died.
On August 25 1839, the schooner had reached the eastern tip of Long Island. Sengbe and some others went ashore to negotiate with the local seamen to take them back to Africa in exchange for gold they claimed to have on board. The seamen and the captives agreed to meet the next morning.
On August 26 1839, that meeting was interupted by the U.S.S Washington, a naval ship that was surveying the coast. The commander, Lieutenant Thomas Gedney seized the Amistad and towed her to New london, Connecticut.