The Curse of the Somers: The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy's Most Infamous Mutiny
James P. Delgado
Nov 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by J. Rodney Turner
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7 hr
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
The greatest controversy in the history of the US Navy of the early American Republic was the revelation that the son of the Secretary of War had seemingly plotted a bloody mutiny that would have turned the US brig Somers into a pirate ship. The plot discovered, he and his coconspirators were hastily condemned and hanged at sea. The repercussions of those acts brought headlines, scandal, a fistfight at a cabinet meeting, a court martial, ruined lives, lost reputations, and tales of a haunted ship "bound for the devil" and lost tragically at sea with many of its crew. The "Somers affair" led to the founding of the US Naval Academy and it remains the Navy's only acknowledged mutiny in its history. The story also inspired Herman Melville's White-Jacket and Billy Budd. Others connected to the Somers included Commodore Perry, a relation and defender of the Somers's captain Mackenzie; James Fenimore Cooper, whose feud with the captain, dating back to the War of 1812, resurfaced in his reportage of the affair; and Raphael Semmes, the Somers's last captain, who later served in the Confederate Navy. The Curse of the Somers is a thorough recreation of this classic tale, told with the help of recently uncovered evidence.
About the author
James P. Delgado is senior vice president of SEARCH, Inc., the leading cultural resources firm in the United States. A maritime archaeologist, explorer, and author, he is senior consultant for National Geographic's television series Drain the Oceans, in which he also frequently appears.
J. Rodney Turner is a prolific audiobook narrator who specializes in historical fiction set in the post-Civil War era, as well as Westerns, mystery/thrillers, and crime dramas. Previously, he served as an air traffic controller in the Navy and in the Federal Aviation Administration.
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