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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at 3 a.m. on July 2nd, 1839, off the coast of Cuba.

Plantation owner Pedro Montez shifts uncomfortably in his

bunk aboard the slave ship La Amistad. The two-masted schooner doesn't

belong to Pedro, but the cargo aboard does. A few days ago Pedro and another plantation owner bought

53 enslaved Africans at auction in Havana. They then chartered La Amestad to transport the

captives to their plantations in the east of the country.

But Pedro is uncomfortable on ships and right now he's tossing and turning in a vain attempt to fall asleep.

Pedro stops

fidgeting when he hears a noise, a dull thud from somewhere up on deck.

After lying awake for the last three nights, Pedro has grown used to the

sound to the ship, but this thud seems out of place.

Pedro lies still a few seconds longer until he hears the noise again.

Pedro climbs out of bed and heads up on deck to investigate.

A salty breeze blows over him as he moves across the deck looking for the source of the sound, but it's a cloudy night and the ship is a patchwork of shadows.

Suddenly two men lunge out of the darkness.

Pedro stares in shock.

It's two of the slaves.

They should be chained up below deck, but somehow they're free.

Pedro looks for something to defend himself with, and he finds a sailor's knife left on top of a barrel.

...