A replica of the slave mutiny ship Amistad has been confirmed for the Duluth tall ships festival coming at the end of July.
The 129-foot, two-masted, eight-sailed schooner was launched in 2000, three years after the movie "Amistad" hit theaters. The movie centered on the true story of the 1839 mutiny aboard the ship as it sailed from Africa to the Northeast Coast of America. Much of the story involves a courtroom drama about the slave who led the revolt.
The Amistad will be one of eight large historic replica sailing vessels expected to call on the port between July 28 and Aug. 3 as part of Tall Ships Duluth 2010.
Two years ago, when three tall ships visited Duluth for three days, the spectacle drew a record 125,000 people to the city's waterfront. Promoters say this event could draw even larger crowds, although they will limit on-board passes to 25,000 -- the same as in 2008.
The Freedom Schooner Amistad, the official flagship and tall ship ambassador of Connecticut, tours ports throughout the Atlantic Ocean that have historical significance to the story of the Atlantic slave trade -- from the East Coast to Europe, West Africa and the Caribbean.
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Other tall ships confirmed for the event are the U.S. Brig Niagara and the Pride of Baltimore II, both of which came to Duluth in 2008; the Roseway, a Grand Banks Fishing Schooner built in 1925; and the S/V Denis Sullivan, Wisconsin's flagship and a flagship for the United Nations Environment Program.
Three other ships are yet to be named.
