On the day the court-martial ended, Passed Assistant Leecock, a member of the shipboard council of officers, placed the muzzle of a pistol to his head and ended his life. Commander Mackenzie never commanded another ship, but he lived comfortably writing and serving on other government assignments. On September 13, 1848, he died of a heart attack while riding his horse. He was 45 years old, five years after being acquitted of all charges. There is some evidence that Gansevoort lived the remainder of his days in remorse for his part in the Somers affair, although he could never be induced to talk about it. In 1856 he was relieved of command of the Decatur for being intoxicated at eleven in the morning. He retired with the rank of commodore and died in 1868. Elizabeth Spencer survived about two years after the death of her son, Philip. John Spencer lived until 1855 and was 68 when he died. In 1844 the demonstration firing of a very large and poorly designed cannon on board the Princeton exploded killing Secretary of Navy Upshur, two senators, and wounding several others. President Tyler was on board, but escaped injury, for he was participating in other activities at the time of the explosion.
Sea Dangers by Philip McFarland (Schocken Books, New York, 1985) is a detailed and well written narrative on the Somers affair. It also has a comprehensive list of references. Unfortunately, McFarland’s book and nearly all other references are now out of print. However, these books may be found in many larger libraries along with numerous newspaper articles for that period of time. Internet book stores such as amazon.com are good sources for out of print books. A document still in print that is not easy to read but was referred to constantly for writing this novel is the unabridged facsimile of the original Proceedings of the Naval Court Martial in the Case of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie (1844) (Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, Delmar, New York 1992). Witnesses’ testimony breathe life into the actual conversations and activities that took place on board the Somers. This document also contains James Fenimore Cooper’s Review of the Proceedings of the Naval Court Martial. Other summaries (all out of print) can be found in Mutiny: A History of Naval Insurrections by Leonard F. Guttridge, Rocks & Shoals by James E. Valle, Old Bruin: Commodore Matthew C. Perry by Morison, and Quarter-Deck and Fo’c’s’le by James E. Merrill. In 1990, archaeologists from the U. S. National Park Service and Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology and History discovered the Somers’ hull in 17 fathoms of water. More studies of this important artifact are planned. This discovery is described along with the mutiny story in a VCR television documentary The Curse of the Somers narrated by Peter Coyote (1995 Somers Documentary Film Project Limited Partnership, San Francisco).
BOB BROWN
Bob Brown is the pen name for Robert L. Brown. His writing includes many short stories and the historical novel Not One Shred of Decency in 2000 and Nathan’s Valley in 2003. Bittersweet Revenge, a book of short stories, was published in 2006. Several short stories and most of his inventions are on his website. The inventions on his website are free to anyone with no expectation of personal gain. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1926. Until moving to Montana in 2000, he lived in the three southern states of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. During World War II he served two years in the U. S. Navy and was assigned to a Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) ship in the Philippines. He did not participate in any battles. With the help of the GI Bill he graduated from Auburn University as an Electrical Engineer in 1950. After three years in Atlanta with Georgia Power Company, he moved to Kingston Tennessee where he accepted a job in Oak Ridge working for the Electrical Engineering Department of Union Carbide. From 1957 until his retirement in 1988 he worked as Research and Development Engineer for Fusion Energy Research in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. On this assignment he worked on the development of conventional and superconducting magnets. He obtained five patents in magnet research and three more patents for utility devices useful around the home. After forty-five years of marriage, his wife, Betty, died of cancer in 1992. They had two children, David and Sandra.
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BOOKS BY BOB BROWN
DUELING PARTNERS
(eBook)
WILL A TRUCE BE POSSIBLE WHEN LACY,
AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE, MEETS JOSH,
AN IMMOVABLE OBJECT?
(PLUS THREE MONTANA STORIES)
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BITTERSWEET REVENGE
(Paperback)
BITTERSWEET REVENGE, MOON SHADOWS,
WINDMILL, AND MANY SHORT STORIES.
amazon $18.95
Kindle Abridged Version $1.99
NATHAN’S VALLEY
(Paperback)
IN 1885 A TERRIBLE MISTAKE TURNS A SIMPLE
ACT OF CHIVALRY INTO MURDER AND FORCES
TWO LOVERS TO BEAR THEIR CHILDREN
IN THE MONTANA WILDERNESS
amazon $12.95
Kindle Revised Edition $4.95
NOT ONE SHRED OF DECENCY
(Paperback)
Historical novel based on actual events.
THE SUMMARY HANGING OF THE SON OF THE
SECRETARY OF WAR SPARKED A NATIONAL CONTROVERSY.
A SEA STORY OF INTRIGUE AND SUSPENSE
ON A U. S. NAVY SAIL SHIP IN 1842.
amazon $12.95
(Go to amazon)
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Table of Contents
Copyright
DEDICATION
ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
Alexander Mackenzie
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
author’s NOTES
BOB BROWN:ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BOOKS BY BOB BROWN