8, 1841. was launched by the New York Navy Yard on April 16, 1842, and was commissioned on 12 May 1842, with Mackenzie in command. After completing a shakedown cruise to Puerto Rico and back, the new brig sailed out of New York Harbor on September 13, 1842, with orders to head for the Atlantic coast of Africa with dispatches for the sloop . Somers was also acting as an experimental schoolship for naval apprentices on this voyage; the Somers crew was mostly inexperienced sailors and seamen. After looking for Vandalia at Madeira, Tenerife, and Porto Praia, Somers arrived at Monrovia, Liberia, on November 10, only to discover that the sloop had already sailed for home. The next day, Mackenzie set sail for the Virgin Islands hoping to meet up with Vandalia at St. Thomas before the return journey back to New York. Somers mutiny On the passage to West Africa, some of the Somers officers noticed a steady worsening of morale among the crew. On the way home on November 26, 1842 Mackenzie learned of the plot and arrested Midshipman Philip Spencer, the 19-year old son of Secretary of War John Canfield Spencer, for inciting mutiny. The other two young plotters arrested with Spencer were Elisha Small and Samuel Cromwell. Mackenzie was not legally empowered to convene a court martial. So he charged his officers with making an investigation. They unanimously concluded that the three sailors were guilty and recommended their immediate execution, which took place at sea on December 1, 1842. Only 13 days later, Somers arrived in New York, where a naval court of inquiry was immediately ordered to investigate the affair. Mackenzie was completely exonerated at the court of inquiry and at a subsequent court martial. However the controversial incident drew nationwide attention and colored the remainder of his life. It was customary then to commend officers cleared at a court martial, but Mackenzie's court martial made very clear that it was not commending him. The entire affair resulted in a great sensation, and Mackenzie's conduct was as severely criticized by his opponents as it was ardently defended by his supporters. His fiercest detractor was the famous novelist and naval historian James Fenimore Cooper. Naval historian and author Mackenzie was also an accomplished author and naval historian. While his tours of duty in the navy were broadening, he also used several extended leaves to travel in