Philip Spencer (sailor)

Philip Spencer
Philip Spencer by Blendon Campbell, courtesy of the Union College Permanent Collection
Born(1823-01-28)January 28, 1823
DiedDecember 1, 1842(1842-12-01) (aged 19)
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
OccupationSailor
Known forSomers Affair
ParentJohn C. Spencer

Philip Spencer (January 28, 1823 December 1, 1842), a midshipman aboard USS Somers, was executed for mutiny without a court-martial, after being suspected of conspiring to kill opposing crewmembers and turn the brig into a pirate ship. He was the son of John C. Spencer, Secretary of War in U.S. President John Tyler's administration, and the grandson of Ambrose Spencer, a New York politician and lawyer.