Army & Navy – Mutiny on Mare Island

A case without precedent in U.S. Navy history is drawing to a close this week on Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco Bay. Fifty U.S. sailors, all of them Negroes, are being tried for mutiny, for which the punishment may be death. The 50 are ammunition handlers who, a few weeks after the explosion of two ammunition-laden ships at Port Chicago (327 killed) refused to load a ship.

On an afternoon in August the ship had arrived at the Naval ammunition depot on Mare Island to take on a cargo of explosives. A division of loaders (105 men)—all of whom had been at Port Chicago—were mustered for the job. They fell in, shuffled a few steps, stopped. All but eleven of them refused to work.

The commandant tried persuasion. He sent the chaplain to talk to them. The chaplain pleaded: “Come on, boys, I’ll go with you.” The Negroes still balked. The commandant and his executive talked to them individually but could persuade only 21 of them to obey orders and go to work.

Another division was mustered. It lined up but broke ranks before marching a step. A third division arrived in busses. All but eight of them refused to work. In all, 277 men, all Negroes, refused duty. Finally Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright, commandant of the 12th Naval District, hurried to the depot and made a stern but fatherly speech. Even then 50 held out—the 50 on trial this week.