i THE CURSE OF THE SOMERS ii iii The Curse of the Somers The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy’s Most Infamous Mutiny James P. Delgado iv Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © James P. Delgado 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Control Number: 2022943851 ISBN 978– 0–1 9– 757522– 2 DOI: 10.1093/o so/ 9780197575222.001.0001 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v To George and Joel Belcher vi What’s past is prologue, what to come, in yours and my discharge. Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1 vii CONTENTS List of Illustrations | ix Preface | xi Acknowledgments | xix Introduction: The First of December 1842 | 1 1. Philip Spencer | 7 2. An Unlucky Ship | 31 3. A Sailor’s Life for Me | 55 4. A Fatal Cruise | 72 5. A Hanging | 94 6. Controversy and Inquiry | 115 7. “Damn Bad Luck Follows” | 137 8. Legacies | 157 Epilogue | 168 NOTES | 179 BIBLIOGRAPHY | 193 INDEX | 205 vii viii ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Map: The Ill- Fated Voyage of the U.S. Brig Somers, 1842 xvii 1.1 John Canfield Spencer 11 1.2 Philip Spencer 19 1.3 USS North Carolina at the Brooklyn Navy Yard 25 2.1 The ideal of a heroic U.S. Navy: Stephen Decatur at Tripoli 34 2.2 The destruction of USS Intrepid off Tripoli 35 2.3 Richard Somers 36 2.4 Alexander Slidell Mackenzie 41 2.5 The rough-a nd- tumble New York of the era 51 3.1 Abel Upshur, Secretary of the Navy 62 3.2 A “boy sailor” of the U.S. Navy in a period advertisement 67 3.3 Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry 69 4.1 The “sweepings of the streets” of New York, less than a century after Somers’ voyage. Some things did not change. 74 4.2 Flogging a man on USS Cyane, 1842– 1843 81 4.3 The anti- slavery patrol in action: the U.S. brig Perry captures the slaver Martha 87 ix