The Amistad was loaded with its purchase on June 28, 1839. Beatings, overcrowding and lack of food were all cited later by the slaves as the conditions they faced aboard the schooner. On the third night of the voyage, the situation the Amistad took a surprising turn. The person credited with changing the fate of the prisoners aboard the ship was a man named Joseph Cinqué. Cinqué managed to free himself and then set about freeing the other slaves. The group then took control of the ship. They ordered the two surviving members of the crew to return them to their homes in Africa from which they were unlawfully taken. The two Spanish crew members, however, tricked Africans. They sailed one way during the day and another at night. They hoped that perhaps a British ship in those waters would save them. After two months at sea, the Amistad found itself in United States waters. The ship was eventually spotted by the Navy, and everyone aboard was arrested.