By KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer

MYSTIC, Conn. -- At least in terms of publicity, the vast success of Titanic has swamped another epic movie about a ship, Amistad. Released last December and still showing at movie theaters, Amistad tells the true story of a group of kidnapped Africans who mutiny on their slave ship, La Amistad, in 1839, and make their way to the coast of New England, where a series of court trials eventually frees them.

Many of the most vivid scenes in the movie were filmed in Newport and in the Seaport Museum of nearby Mystic, Conn., where a new exhibit, Voyage to Freedom, gives an overview of the Amistad incident.

The exhibit, which opened in December around the time of the movie release, was planned long before anyone knew about the movie, says exhibit designer Jonathan Shay. But the opening date for the exhibit -- originally planned for this spring -- was moved back to December to coincide with the movie release.

The small exhibit includes a reproduction of the only existing painting of La Amistad (the original is in the Colony Historical Society in New Haven), and a model of the USS Washington, the ship that found the Amistad off the coast off Long Island.

One section of the exhibit includes photographs of Sierra Leone (the area of Africa that was home to the Amistad captives), a robe similar to what they would have worn in Africa, and a tribal mask.

In another section, legal documents relating to the case are displayed.

A seven-minute introductory video gives an overview of the Amistad incident, and visitors are invited to sit at a computer where they can access a Web site relating to Amistad, http://amistad.mysticseaport.org

The Amistad exhibit is scheduled to remain at the Seaport at least through the spring, and will probably remain in some form as a semi-permanent addition to the Museum.

Spring shipbuilding

Later this spring, visitors to the Seaport Museum will be able to watch ship carpenters at work on a reproduction of the Amistad. This month, the keel of the vessel was laid in a ceremony that is the equivalent of a groundbreaking for a building, but real work on the vessel will not begin until May.

The ship is expected to be launched in the year 2000, when it will begin sailing the nation's waterways as an educational ambassador teaching the lessons of the Amistad incident.

Mystic Seaport Museum is open daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $16 for adults and $8 for children age 6 to 12. For further information, call (888) 9SEAPORT.

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