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USS Somers (1842)
The second USS ''Somers'' was a brig in the United States Navy during the administration of President John Tyler. It became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions. ''Somers'' was launched at the New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1842 and commissioned on 12 May 1842, with Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie in command. Initial cruise After a shakedown cruise in June–July to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico and back, the new brig sailed out of New York harbor on 13 September 1842 bound for the Atlantic coast of Africa with dispatches for frigate . On this voyage, ''Somers'' was acting as an experimental schoolship for naval apprentices. After calls at Madeira, Tenerife, and Praia, looking for ''Vandalia'', ''Somers'' arrived at Monrovia, Liberia on 10 November and learned that the frigate had already sailed for home. The next day, Cdr. Mackenzie headed for the Virgin Islands hoping to meet ''Vandalia'' at St. Thomas before return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USS Somers (1842)
The second USS ''Somers'' was a brig in the United States Navy during the administration of President John Tyler. It became infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions. ''Somers'' was launched at the New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1842 and commissioned on 12 May 1842, with Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie in command. Initial cruise After a shakedown cruise in June–July to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico and back, the new brig sailed out of New York harbor on 13 September 1842 bound for the Atlantic coast of Africa with dispatches for frigate . On this voyage, ''Somers'' was acting as an experimental schoolship for naval apprentices. After calls at Madeira, Tenerife, and Praia, looking for ''Vandalia'', ''Somers'' arrived at Monrovia, Liberia on 10 November and learned that the frigate had already sailed for home. The next day, Cdr. Mackenzie headed for the Virgin Islands hoping to meet ''Vandalia'' at St. Thomas before return ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix being a displaced part of the same geologic structure. Politically, the British Virgin Islands have been governed as the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, and form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The archipelago is separated from the true Lesser Antilles by the Anegada Passage and from the main island of Puerto Rico by the Virgin Passage. The islands fall into three different political jurisdictions: * Virgin Islands, informally referred to as British Virgin Islands, a British overseas territory, * Virgin Islands of the United States, an unincorporated territory of the United States, * Spanish Virgin Islands, the easternmost islands of the Comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guert Gansevoort
Commodore Guert Gansevoort (7 June 1812 – 15 July 1868) was an officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. Biography He was born into an aristocratic Dutch American family in Gansevoort, New York, near Albany. The area was named for his paternal grandfather, Peter Gansevoort, a prosperous businessman who had served in the Continental Army and later become a brigadier general in the United States Army. Guert was the son of Peter's son Leonard. Peter's daughter, Maria, was the mother of author Herman Melville. Gansevoort was appointed a midshipman in the Navy on 4 March 1823. Subsequently, he served in the Mediterranean Sea on board , , and , receiving promotion to passed midshipman on 28 April 1832, and to lieutenant on 8 March 1837. In 1842 Gansevoort was serving as first lieutenant aboard the brig , under the command of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, when a planned mutiny was discovered, led by Midshipman Philip Spencer. On t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purser
A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. Frequently, the cooks and stewards answer to the purser as well. They were also called a pusser in British naval slang.From which the Pusser's brand of rum takes its name. History The purser joined the warrant officer ranks of the Royal Navy in the early 14th century and existed as a naval rank until 1852. The development of the warrant officer system began in 1040, when five English ports began furnishing warships to King Edward the Confessor in exchange for certain privileges. They also furnished crews whose officers were the Master, Boatswain, Carpenter and Cook. Later these officers were "warranted" by the British Admiralty. Pursers received no pay but were entitled to profits made through their business activities. In the 18th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elisha Small
Elisha Small (died December 1, 1842) was an American sailor who was sailing with the rank of Seaman. He had served on several kinds of ships, including a slaver, before joining the United States Navy. In November 1842, while serving aboard the brig USS ''Somers'', during the return home from a voyage to Liberia, suspicion arose that Philip Spencer had formed a plan to seize the ''Somers'' and sail her as a pirate ship or slaver. His friendship with crew members Samuel Cromwell and Elisha Small was cited as evidence. On November 27, 1842, Small and Cromwell were formally accused of being part of Spencer's supposed plot to mutiny. After a council of officers decided that the threat of mutiny was real, all three men were hanged without court-martial on December 1 and were buried at sea. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seaman (rank)
Seaman is a military rank used in many Navy, navies around the world. It is considered a junior enlisted rank and, depending on the navy, it may be a single rank on its own or a name shared by several similarly junior ranks. In the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, it is the lowest rank in the navy, while in the United States, it refers to the three lowest ranks of the United States Navy, U.S. Navy and United States Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard. The equivalent of the seaman is the ''matelot'' in French-speaking countries, and ''Matrose'' in German-speaking countries. Australia The Royal Australian Navy features one seaman rank, which is split into two distinct classes. Seaman and seaman* (pronounced "seaman star"), to differentiate between those who have completed their employment training and those who are in training. There is no insignia on a seaman rank slide. Canada There are 4 grades of sailor (previously the term "seaman", until it was replaced with "sailor" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isla De La Juventud
Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Island). The island was called the Isle of Pines ( es, Isla de Pinos) until 1978. It has an area and is south of the island of Cuba, across the Gulf of Batabanó. The island lies almost directly south of Havana and Pinar del Río and is a Special Municipality (), not part of any province and is therefore administered directly by the central government of Cuba. The island has only one municipality, also named Isla de la Juventud. The largest of the 350 islands in the Canarreos Archipelago (''Archipiélago de los Canarreos''), the island has an estimated population of 83,544 (in 2019). The capital and largest city is Nueva Gerona in the north, and the second largest and oldest city is Santa Fe in the interior. Other communities include Columbi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, vessels used for piracy are pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term ''piracy'' generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, on computer networks, and (in scie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Canfield Spencer
John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler. Early life John Canfield Spencer was born on January 8, 1788, in Hudson, New York. He was the oldest child of Ambrose Spencer, Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court, and his first wife, Laura Canfield (1768–1807). His sister, Abby Spencer (1790–1839), was married to Albany Mayor John Townsend. His younger brother, William Augustus Spencer (1792–1854), was married to Eleanora Eliza Lorillard (1801–1843), the daughter of Peter Abraham Lorillard. His brother, Ambrose Spencer, Jr., was killed at the Battle of Lundy's Lane. After the death of his mother in 1807, his father married Mary Clinton (1773–1808) in 1808. Mary was the daughter of James Clinton and sister of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. After Mary's death later that same year, his father remarried again to Katherine Clinto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Secretary Of War
The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and later Henry Knox held the position. When Washington was inaugurated as the first President under the United States Constitution, Constitution, he appointed Knox to continue serving as Secretary of War. The secretary of war was the head of the United States Department of War, War Department. At first, he was responsible for all military affairs, including United States Navy, naval affairs. In 1798, the United States Secretary of the Navy, secretary of the Navy was created by statute, and the scope of responsibility for this office was reduced to the affairs of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Spencer (sailor)
Philip Spencer (January 28, 1823 – December 1, 1842), a midshipman aboard , was executed for mutiny without a court-martial. He was the son of John C. Spencer, Secretary of War in U.S. President John Tyler's administration, and the grandson of Ambrose Spencer, a New York politician and lawyer. Background Spencer was born in Canandaigua, New York. He was described as handsome, despite a "wandering eye" (possibly strabismus) which surgery was unable to correct. As a youth at Geneva College (now Hobart College), he was considered wild and uncontrollable despite displaying signs of high intelligence. His favorite reading matter was pirate stories. After an abortive stay at Union College – where he was a founder of the Chi Psi Fraternity – Spencer ran away and signed on a whaler at Nantucket. His father located him and convinced him that if a life on the sea was what he wanted, to live it as "a gentleman"; i.e., as a commissioned officer. As Secretary of War, it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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