1/4: Sailing the Graveyard Sea: The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation by Richard Snow (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 March 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
1/4: Sailing the Graveyard Sea: The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation by Richard Snow (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Graveyard-Sea-Deathly-Gripped/dp/1982185449
On December 16, 1842, the US brig-of-war Somers dropped anchor in the New York Harbor at the end of a voyage intended to teach a group of adolescents the rudiments of naval life. But this routine exercise ended in catastrophe. Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie came ashore claiming he had prevented a mutiny that would have left him and his officers dead. Some of the thwarted mutineers were being held under guard, but three had already been hanged at sea: Boatswain’s Mate Samuel Cromwell, Seaman Elisha Small, and Acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, whose father was the secretary of war, John Spencer.
1840 Barque John Tomlison
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS I on the World with John Bachelor. |
| 0:05.0 | Here's John Bachelor. |
| 0:11.0 | It is 1842. |
| 0:14.0 | The United States Navy in its early decades |
| 0:18.0 | and an incident that is remembered as a mutiny |
| 0:22.0 | sailing the graveyard sea, the deathly voyage of the |
| 0:26.4 | summers, the US Navy's only mutiny and the trial that gripped the nation. |
| 0:31.3 | Richard Snow is the author. |
| 0:33.9 | I welcome you, Richard. |
| 0:35.0 | I congratulate you. |
| 0:36.1 | Your book is a fascination, not the least, |
| 0:39.6 | because it becomes suggestively the inspiration for two of Melville's masterpieces. |
| 0:45.6 | Herman Melville also went to see and had a relation with the crew of Summers. |
| 0:51.3 | One is Whitejacket, the other of course the famous and unfinished and much debated |
| 0:56.4 | Billy Bud. The man who is the if we're not taking too much liberty with Melville's memory, who may be an inspiration for Billy |
| 1:09.4 | Bard, is named Philip Spencer. |
| 1:12.3 | He's born 1824. |
| 1:15.0 | Richard, what do we need to know about Philip Spencer |
| 1:18.0 | as we proceed him towards boarding the summers? |
| 1:22.0 | Good evening to you. |
| 1:23.5 | Good evening, thank you. |
| 1:24.5 | Well, the great naval historian Samuel Elliot |
... |
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