A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship SomersSimon and Schuster, 1 Νοε 2007 - 320 σελίδες Mutiny on the Bounty is one of history's greatest naval stories—yet few know the similar tale from America's own fledgling navy in the dying days of the Age of Sail, a tale of mutiny and death at sea on an American warship. In 1842, the brig-of-war Somers set out on a training cruise for apprentice seamen, commanded by rising star Alexander Mackenzie. Somers was crammed with teenagers. Among them was Acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, a disturbed youth and a son of the U.S. Secretary of War. Buying other crew members' loyalty with pilfered tobacco and alcohol, Spencer dreamed up a scheme to kill the officers and turn Somers into a pirate ship. In the isolated world of a warship, a single man can threaten the crew's discipline and the captain's authority. But one of Spencer's followers warned Mackenzie, who arrested the midshipman and chained him and other ringleaders to the quarterdeck. Fearing efforts to rescue the prisoners, officers had to stay awake in round-the-clock watches. Steering desperately for land, sleep-deprived and armed to the teeth, battling efforts to liberate Spencer, Somers's captain and officers finally faced a fateful choice: somehow keep control of the vessel until reaching port—still hundreds of miles away—or hang the midshipman and his two leading henchmen before the boys could take over the ship. The results shook the nation. A naval investigation of the affair turned into a court-martial and a state trial and led to the founding of the Naval Academy to provide better officers for the still-young republic. Mackenzie's controversial decision may have inspired Herman Melville's great work Billy Budd. The story of Somers raises timeless questions still disturbing in twenty-first-century America: the relationship between civil and military law, the hazy line between peace and war, the battle between individual rights and national security, and the ultimate challenge of command at sea. |
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Σελίδα 16
... Perry . Perry was a remarkable man . He was a member of America's most prominent naval family , and a highly capable officer in his own right . His appearance was nothing unusual : medium height , brown hair and eyes , rather strong ...
... Perry . Perry was a remarkable man . He was a member of America's most prominent naval family , and a highly capable officer in his own right . His appearance was nothing unusual : medium height , brown hair and eyes , rather strong ...
Σελίδα 17
... Perry's eyes , that trend compromised national security . The problem bothered him enough to make him leapfrog the chain of command , complaining directly to Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard in early 1824. " The sources from whence ...
... Perry's eyes , that trend compromised national security . The problem bothered him enough to make him leapfrog the chain of command , complaining directly to Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard in early 1824. " The sources from whence ...
Σελίδα 18
... Perry was no different , and now he appealed to the public . Four years after he first approached Southard , and with nothing having happened , he began writing letters to the newspapers . He was for a strong navy in general : " By ...
... Perry was no different , and now he appealed to the public . Four years after he first approached Southard , and with nothing having happened , he began writing letters to the newspapers . He was for a strong navy in general : " By ...
Σελίδα 20
... Perry liked the apprentices , but even he could see the need to keep the men from corrupting them . By 1841 Perry was a commodore , in command of the New York Navy Yard and all of its ships , when he got an idea that seemed bril- liant ...
... Perry liked the apprentices , but even he could see the need to keep the men from corrupting them . By 1841 Perry was a commodore , in command of the New York Navy Yard and all of its ships , when he got an idea that seemed bril- liant ...
Σελίδα 21
... Perry even gave her an official mission , just to add to the voyage's prestige . He bade her sail to the African coast and find the ship Vandalia , engaged on anti - slavery duty there , and deliver important dispatches . He carefully ...
... Perry even gave her an official mission , just to add to the voyage's prestige . He bade her sail to the African coast and find the ship Vandalia , engaged on anti - slavery duty there , and deliver important dispatches . He carefully ...
Άλλες εκδόσεις - Προβολή όλων
A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers Buckner Melton Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2007 |
A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers Buckner F. Melton Προβολή αποσπασμάτων - 2003 |
A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers Buckner F. Melton Προβολή αποσπασμάτων - 2003 |
Συχνά εμφανιζόμενοι όροι και φράσεις
aboard Somers acting midshipman Alexander Slidell Alexander Slidell Mackenzie American Annapolis answer apprentices asked began berth deck bo'sun's mate boys brig called Commander Mackenzie Commodore Court Martial Court of Inquiry court-martial Craney crew Cromwell and Small cruise danger Duer Elisha Small fo'c'sle Gansevoort Garty gave guns hanging happened heard Heiskill Herman Melville Hoffman Ibid James Fenimore Cooper John Canfield Spencer judge advocate knew lawyer least lieutenant Macken Mackenzie's maritime McKinley Melville midshipman mutiny Naval Institute Press Navy Yard nearly never Neville night Norris officers orders Perry Philip Hone Philip Spencer pirate prisoners quarterdeck question rigging Rogers sail sailors Samuel Cromwell seamen seemed sevoort ship ship's Somers's spar deck Spencer and Cromwell Spencer's arrest story talking tell things told took topgallant mast United States Navy Upshur vessel Wales wanted wardroom warship watch Wilson wind witnesses York young
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