In 1842, three Navy men plotted to seize control of the USS Somers and turn it into a pirate ship. When the Somers' captain, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, learned of the plot, he had the three men executed. But when the Somers arrived back in America, questions started to emerge. Were the executions justified? Was the mutiny plot even real? These questions would be explored at the commander's 1843 court-martial.