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.
Underwater exploration is increasingly discovering long-lost warships from the deepest parts of the ocean, revealing a vast undersea museum that speaks to battles won and lost, service, sacrifice, and the human costs of warfare.
War at Sea is a dramatic global tour of this remote museum and other formerly lost traces of humanity's naval heritage. It is also an account by the world's leading naval archaeologist of how underwater exploration has discovered these remains, thus resolving mysteries, adding to our understanding of the past, and providing intimate details of the experience of naval warfare.
James Delgado, who has personally explored, dived, and studied a number of the wrecks and sites in the book, provides insights as an explorer, archaeologist, and storyteller. The result is a unique and compelling history of naval warfare. From fallen triremes and galleons to dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines, this book vividly brings thousands of years of naval warfare to life.
