The Amistad Story

It's been the subject of numerous books, a big Hollywood production, and a replica construction in Connecticut, but for East Hampton, the story of the slave ship Amistad has always been a local one. Quentin T. Snediker, the coordinator of the replica project in Mystic, will speak about the Amistad on Saturday afternoon as part of East Hampton Town's 350th anniversary lecture series.

For those not familiar with the 1839 incident, the Amistad's African captives seized the ship near Cuba and kept sailing, winding up off the shore of Montauk, near Culloden Point. Their leader, Cinque, attempted to negotiate with a local captain to pilot the schooner back to Sierra Leone, but before the plan could be concluded a United States revenue cutter took the Amistad into custody.

Cinque faced trial in Hartford, Conn. John Quincy Adams defended him, in a case that some historians say presaged the Civil War, and he was eventually cleared of the charges on the grounds that the rebellion took place on the high seas.

Mr. Snediker, who has spent the last three years working with Amistad America Inc. on the appearance and replication of the schooner, will shed far more light on the intriguing historical tale Saturday. His lecture will begin at 4 p.m. at the Montauk School (not at Guild Hall, as listed in the official anniversary calendar). It is underwritten by Gosman's Restaurant.