Slave auction
The group had been picked by two potential buyers in a slave auction in Cuba Jose Ruiz and Pedro Monte’s who owed sugar plantations. Both of them picked 53 slaves at the auction to work in their plantations in Puerto Príncipe and loaded them into the Amistad ship to taken to the island. The ship left at night to avoid British anti-slavery patrols, with the slaves onboard suffering a lot of mistreatment. The group comprised of women, men and children, with most of them being kidnapped and sold by the local leaders. Others were taken for debt payments, some were captured in warfare and others were sent to the Amistad as a punishment for serious societal crimes (Broyld 120). The conditions in the ship included them being chained around their necks, wrists and ankles, wrists and being forced to sleep together in contorted positioning. Food was also a luxury with beatings a common occurrence even for minor offences.