Index
Who We Are
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American Saudade, Inc. (ASI) is a Rhode Island-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, exploring, and sharing the maritime heritage of Portuguese and Cape Verdean communities.
Our work is rooted in the Atlantic—the ocean that connected islands, continents, families, sailors, immigrants, and generations. For centuries, the sea shaped the histories of Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, Cabo Verde, New England, and the wider diaspora. ASI exists to help ensure that these histories, experiences, and traditions are not forgotten.
The word saudade expresses a profound connection to people, places, and experiences that may be distant but remain part of us. For ASI, that feeling becomes a call to action: to recover stories, preserve family memories, study maritime history, educate future generations, and strengthen the relationship between the diaspora and its Atlantic heritage.
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Our mission brings together maritime history, education, cultural exploration, community participation, and responsible seamanship. We are building a platform where personal memories can become part of the historical record and where the lessons of the past can help us better understand the present and prepare for the future.
A Living Maritime Project
At the center of ASI’s work is the S/V American Saudade, a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37 sailing vessel undergoing an extensive refit. We're preparing her to serve as more than a sailing vessel. Our long-term vision is for her to become a floating classroom, an educational platform, and a living symbol of the maritime connection between New England and the Atlantic islands.
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Her planned Great Circle Heritage Voyage will retrace historic Atlantic connections from Newport, Rhode Island, to the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, and ultimately back across the Atlantic. The voyage is being developed as an educational and cultural undertaking that connects maritime history with the people, communities, museums, schools, ports, and institutions that continue to preserve it.
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The vessel’s refit is guided by SubSafe to SailSafe™, an ASI program inspired by the disciplined safety culture and systems-based thinking of the United States Navy’s SUBSAFE program. It applies principles such as inspection, documentation, material traceability, testing, configuration control, training, and operational readiness to preparing an offshore sailing vessel. Its central principle is simple: safety must be built into a vessel and its operations—not added as an afterthought.
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Looking Deeper
ASI’s educational work is strengthened by 360 Deep™, our multidisciplinary method for examining history, culture, current events, and the human experience.
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History cannot be understood through a single lens. 360 Deep encourages us to examine the many forces surrounding a person, place, event, or period—including history, politics, economics, geography, culture, religion, technology, the environment, maritime and military strategy, and human motivation. It asks us to move beyond simple explanations, examine credible evidence, recognize different perspectives, and continue asking the most important question: Why?
Through our Education programs, Maritime Heritage initiatives, E-Library, and Family Albums, ASI is developing an accessible collection of historical narratives, photographs, documents, oral histories, family memories, educational resources, and maritime knowledge.
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Our Video Production brings this work to a wider audience through digital storytelling, interviews, historical features, project updates, and educational presentations.
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Building a Community
ASI is not only preserving history; we are building a community around it. Our work depends on people willing to share their knowledge, memories, photographs, documents, skills, and experiences.
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We welcome participation from families, veterans, mariners, educators, students, historians, museums, cultural organizations, businesses, and members of the Portuguese and Cape Verdean diaspora. Whether someone contributes a family photograph, records an oral history, supports an educational program, assists with the vessel, or helps establish an institutional relationship, every contribution can become part of a larger historical record.
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You can become involved by exploring our current projects, learning about volunteer opportunities, discussing a potential partnership, or helping us support the mission.
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American Saudade is a bridge between past and present, land and sea, homeland and diaspora, memory and discovery.
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We invite you to explore with us, learn with us, and help preserve this heritage for generations yet to come.
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Preserving Maritime Heritage. Retracing Atlantic History.
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ACTA NON VERBA — Deeds, Not Words.
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