{"product_id":"a-hanging-offense-9780743256032","title":"A Hanging Offense","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMutiny on the Bounty\u003c\/i\u003e is one of history''s greatest naval stories—yet few know the similar tale from America''s own fledgling navy in the dying days of the Age of Sail, a tale of mutiny and death at sea on an American warship.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1842, the brig-of-war \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e set out on a training cruise for apprentice seamen, commanded by rising star Alexander Mackenzie. \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e was crammed with teenagers. Among them was Acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, a disturbed youth and a son of the U.S. Secretary of War. Buying other crew members'' loyalty with pilfered tobacco and alcohol, Spencer dreamed up a scheme to kill the officers and turn \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e into a pirate ship.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In the isolated world of a warship, a single man can threaten the crew''s discipline and the captain''s authority. But one of Spencer''s followers warned Mackenzie, who arrested the midshipman and chained him and other ringleaders to the quarterdeck. Fearing efforts to rescue the prisoners, officers had to stay awake in round-the-clock watches. Steering desperately for land, sleep-deprived and armed to the teeth, battling efforts to liberate Spencer, \u003ci\u003eSomers''\u003c\/i\u003es captain and officers finally faced a fateful choice: somehow keep control of the vessel until reaching port—still hundreds of miles away—or hang the midshipman and his two leading henchmen before the boys could take over the ship.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The results shook the nation. A naval investigation of the affair turned into a court-martial and a state trial and led to the founding of the Naval Academy to provide better officers for the still-young republic. Mackenzie''s controversial decision may have inspired Herman Melville''s great work \u003ci\u003eBilly Budd.\u003c\/i\u003e The story of \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e raises timeless questions still disturbing in twenty-first-century America: the relationship between civil and military law, the hazy line between peace and war, the battle between individual rights and national security, and the ultimate challenge of command at sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClive Cussler Enough intrigue and drama to satisfy the most demanding reader of history. Melton has no equal in recording sea history.\u003cbr\u003eKenneth Hagan Author of \u003ci\u003eThis People's Navy: The Making of American Sea Power\u003c\/i\u003e and Professor of Strategy, U.S. Naval War College, Monterey Program Writing with the awed voice of a seafaring poet and the tenacity of a trial lawyer, Buckner Melton creates a sense of immediacy concerning the near-mutiny aboard the naval brig \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e in 1842. The mesmerizing story is as troubling today as it was a century and a half ago.\u003cbr\u003eThomas Farel Heffernan Author of \u003ci\u003eMutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock\u003c\/i\u003e An exciting and engrossing account of a great naval tragedy. Melton's thoroughly researched depiction of the national and nautical background of the affair and his penetrating analysis of its participants make the \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e story understandable and riveting as never before.\u003cbr\u003eDavid W. Shaw Author of \u003ci\u003eThe Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic\u003c\/i\u003e In this well-researched and faithful account of the attempted mutiny aboard the brig \u003ci\u003eSomers\u003c\/i\u003e in 1842, Buckner F. Melton, Jr., brings to light a little-known chapter of maritime history. The book is rich in detail and compelling, a blend of high-seas adventure and legal drama.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51018400498007,"sku":"9780743256032","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780743256032.jpg?v=1750776729","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-hanging-offense-9780743256032","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}