USS Somers ( 1842 ) The second USS " Somers " was a brig in the United States Navy during the John Tyler administration , infamous for being the only U . S . Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions . " Somers " was launched by 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 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 returning to New York . The " " Somers " Affair " . On 25 November 1842 , during the passage to the West Indies , Midshipman Philip Spencer , the son of Secretary of War John C . Spencer , allegedly told purser ' s steward J . W . Wales of a planned mutiny by approximately 20 of " Somers " crew , who intended to use the ship for piracy from the Isle of Pines . Seaman Elisha Small was involved in the conversation , and Wales was threatened with death if he revealed Spencer ' s plan . On 26 November , Wales notified Captain Mackenzie of the plan through his chain of command via purser H . M . Heiskill and first lieutenant Guert Gansevoort . Captain Mackenzie was disinclined to take the matter seriously , but instructed Gansevoort to watch Spencer and the crew for evidence of confirmation . Gansevoort learned from other members of the crew that Spencer had been observed in secret nightly conferences with seaman Small and Boatswain ' s Mate Samuel Cromwell . Captain Mackenzie confronted Spencer with Wales ' allegation that evening . Spencer replied that he told Wales the story as a joke . Spencer was arrested and put in irons on the quarterdeck . Papers written in Greek were discovered in a search of Spencer ' s locker and translated by Midshipman Henry Rodgers : A mast failed and damaged some sail rigging on 27 November . The timing and circumstances were regarded as suspicious ; and Cromwell , the largest man on the crew , was questioned about his alleged meetings with Spencer . Cromwell said : " It was not me , sir – it was Small . " Small was questioned and admitted meeting with Spencer . Both Cromwell and Small joined Spencer in irons on the quarterdeck . On 28 November wardroom steward Henry Waltham was flogged for having stolen brandy for Spencer ; and , after the flogging , Captain Mackenzie informed the crew of a plot by Spencer to have them murdered . Waltham was flogged again on 29 November for suggesting theft of three bottles of wine to one of the apprentices . Sailmaker ' s mate Charles A . Wilson was detected attempting to obtain a weapon on that afternoon , and Landsman McKinley and Apprentice Green missed muster when their watch was called at midnight . Four more men were put in irons on the morning of 30 November : Wilson , McKinley , Green , and Cromwell ' s friend , Alexander McKie . Captain Mackenzie then addressed a letter to his four wardroom officers ( First Lieutenant Gansevoort , Past Assistant Surgeon L . W . Leecock , Purser Heiskill , and Acting Master M . C . Perry ) and three oldest midshipmen ( Henry Rodgers , Egbert Thompson , and Charles W . Hayes ) , asking their opinion as to the best course of action . The seven convened in the wardroom to interview members of the crew . On 1 December , the officers reported that they had " come to a cool , decided , and unanimous opinion " that Spencer , Cromwell and Small were " guilty of a full and determined intention to commit a mutiny ; " and they recommended that the three be put to death , despite Spencer ' s claim that the accused conspirators " had been pretending piracy " . The plotters were hanged that day and buried at sea . Some have noted that the captain could have waited since there were only thirteen days to home port . In response , the captain noted the fatigue of his officers , the smallness of the vessel and the inadequacies of the confinement . " Somers " reached St . Thomas on 5 December and returned to New York on 14 December . She remained there during a naval court of inquiry which investigated the alleged mutiny and subsequent executions . The court exonerated Mackenzie , as did a subsequent court - martial , held at his request to avoid a trial in civil court . Nevertheless , the general populace remained skeptical . In the Home Squadron . On 20 March 1843 , Lt . John West assumed command of " Somers " , and the brig was assigned to the Home Squadron . For the next few years , she served along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies . Mexican - American War . " Somers " was in the Gulf of Mexico off Vera Cruz at the opening of the Mexican - American War in the spring of 1846 ; and , but for runs to Pensacola , Florida , for logistics , she remained in that area on blockade duty until winter . On the evening of 26 November , the brig , commanded by Lt . Raphael Semmes ( later the celebrated commanding officer of the Confederate commerce raider CSS " Alabama " ) , was blockading Vera Cruz when Mexican schooner " Criolla " slipped into that port . " Somers " launched a boat party which boarded and captured the schooner . However , a calm wind prevented the Americans from getting their prize out to sea so they set fire to the vessel and returned through gunfire from the shore to " Somers " , bringing back seven prisoners . Unfortunately , " Criolla " proved to be a US spy ship operating for Commodore David Conner . On 8 December 1846 , while chasing a blockade runner off Vera Cruz , " Somers " capsized and foundered in a sudden squall . Thirty - two members of her crew drowned and seven were rescued , including Semmes . Legacy and wreck . Herman Melville – whose first cousin , Lt . Guert Gansevoort , was an officer aboard the brig at the time of the " Somers " Affair – may have been influenced by the notorious events involving the " Somers " mutineers . Melville may have used elements of the story in his novella " Billy Budd " . The incident is detailed in the novel " Voyage to the First of December " by Henry Carlisle , written from the viewpoint of the Naval surgeon on duty ( from his old journals ) . The story of the " Somers " Affair and the subsequent trial is dramatized in the penultimate episode of the sixth season of the television series " JAG " . The presentation takes place as a dream by LtCol . Sarah MacKenzie , USMC , while she prepares to give a lecture at the US Naval Academy , Annapolis , Maryland , which came into existence as a result of the " Somers " Affair . The regular cast portrayed the people involved . Trevor Goddard played the role of Cdr . Mackenzie , and Catherine Bell ( in a play on the identical surname of her usual role in JAG ) played Mrs . Mackenzie . In 1986 an expedition , led by George Belcher , an art dealer and explorer from San Francisco , California , discovered the wreck , and in 1987 archaeologists James Delgado and Mitchell Marken confirmed the identification of the wreck . In 1990 Delgado , along with Pilar Luna Erreguerena , co - directed a joint Mexican - US expedition , which involved archaeologists and divers from the US National Park Service , the Armada de Mexico , and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia . The project determined that unknown people had looted the wreck sometime after the 1987 expedition . The wreck remains as a site protected by legislation . The most notable legacy of the " Somers " Affair is the US Naval Academy , founded as a direct result of it . Appalled that a midshipman would consider mutiny , senior Naval officials ordered the creation of the academy so that midshipmen could receive a formal and supervised education in Naval seamanship and related matters .