Security· Civil Aid and Humanitarian Operations
Johanna Island mutiny suppression
A small action far from home that shows the broad maritime responsibilities the Navy and Marines carried in distant waters.
While the sloop USS Dale lay at anchor in the harbor of Johanna Island, the modern Anjouan in the Comoros near Madagascar, Marines from the ship's guard were sent aboard the American bark Paulina to put down a mutiny among her crew. The Marines restored order on the merchant vessel without bloodshed. The episode was typical of the period, when an American warship on a distant station was expected to act as a floating arm of law and order, protecting American shipping and quelling trouble aboard merchantmen wherever it found them. The duty fell naturally to the ship's Marine guard, the disciplined force kept aboard precisely for boarding, security, and the enforcement of order. No casualties were suffered in the affair.
Record no. 41