Was young Philip Spencer actually plotting a mutiny, or was he simply an over-imaginative teenager? Was Alexander Slidell Mackenzie a responsible skipper protecting his ship, or was he over his head in command and guilty of a paranoid overreaction? In this reconstruction of the so-called Somers mutiny, James P. Delgado offers a vivid and gripping account of the personalities and circumstances that culminated in one of the most controversial episodes of American naval history.
James P. Delgado is Senior Vice President of SEARCH, Inc., the leading cultural resources firm in the United States. Before that, he was Director of Maritime Heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and President and CEO of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA). He was also host of the National Geographic international television series <"The Sea Hunters>" featuring best-selling author Clive Cussler. Author of more than 20 books, including War at Sea, more than a hundred scholarly and popular magazine articles, and a regular guest in documentary films, he is senior consultant and regularly appears in National Geographic's international television series <"Drain the Oceans.>" For decades he has led diving and excavation teams, most recently at the site of the wreck of the Clotilda, the last ship known to have brought slaves to the United States.