Samuel Cromwell was a sailor

Sailor

A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...

 and petty officer

Petty Officer

A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...

 {Boatswain's Mate} aboard the brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

 USS Somers

USS Somers (1842)

The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War, infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions....

. Cromwell was feared by the young apprentices who made up the majority of the ship's crew, and was rumored to have served on a slaver

Slave ship

Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....

 at one time. These rumors lent credence to the idea that he would have been amenable to Philip Spencer

Philip Spencer

Philip Spencer , a midshipman aboard the USS Somers, was hanged for mutiny without a lawful court-martial. 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.-Background:Spencer was...

's alleged plot to mutiny

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

, kill the ship's officers and such of the crewmembers as were not wanted, and sail the Somers either as a pirate ship or a slaver.

On the homeward leg of a voyage to Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, Cromwell was put in irons a few days after Philip Spencer and Elisha Small

Elisha Small

Elisha Small was an American sailor who was sailing with the rank of Seaman. He had served on several kinds of ships, including a slaver, before joining the United States Navy....

, another sailor rumored to have been part of a slave ship

Slave ship

Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....

's crew. After a meeting of the officers concluded that a mutinous plot existed, all three men were hanged without court-martial

Court-martial

A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...

.