TRUE COLORS, FALSE FLAGS: At Sea, a Man Could Become Whatever He Claimed To Be by William Benemann lias Willard Trotter was lonely and In a profession that required its men ship, its captain might agree to carry prog- Ebored. He had been at sea on the whal- to be underway for several years at a time, ress reports to ship owners and personal er Illinois for nearly four months (on a voy- with long periods entirely at sea, a widely mail to loved ones. age that would eventually last over two practiced social ritual evolved known as Elias Trotter was shaking the reef out years), and the routine of extreme idleness the “gam.” Whenever two (or more) whal- of the main topsail when he spotted a ship punctuated with manic periods of activity ing vessels encountered each other during hull-down on the horizon. Two hours later, was beginning to wear on him. “I am getting a voyage, it was customary to heave to so the whaler Neptune out of Sag Harbor, New tired of the sea,” he wrote in his journal, that the captains and crew could exchange York, under the command of Captain Wil- with a blunt pencil but with excellent pen- information and hospitality. Advice on liam Pierson, was alongside Illinois. manship, “& who would not—Confined where whales were or were not to be found, to this narrow compass with nothing new ports to be avoided because of infection or The captain gammed with her & or interesting is enough to make the heart civil unrest, sightings of pirates or enemy now I have to record the most sin- grow sick within itself. At times we have ships—all were common topics of conver- gular incident in the whole voy- hard work & even that is a relief from the sation at a gam. If one of the vessels was age—Captain Pierson with his boat ennui of a sea voyage.” But life was about homeward bound, particularly if it was crew boarded us & as is usual we to get very interesting for Elias Trotter. returning to the home port of the other immediately took the for’ard hands down our forecastle & commenced gamming. There was one fellow amongst them who drew my atten- tion, on account of his manly beau- ty, activity & intelligence—Con- versing with him he said he was from Albany, knew me and knew all the first families there & all the principal men—His name he gave me as Charles Wheeler—Getting more interested with him, he took me aside & told me who he really was—He was Sylvanus Spencer the youngest son of old Ambrose Spen- cer whom everybody knows to have been the much honored Chief Jus- tice of the State of New York—He told me his history which is one I will never forget but cannot write here on account of the little room I have to give it. But imagine if you can, if you will, the emotions with which I met here on the Eastern Coast of New Holland [Australia], one born in my native city & one who had roamed amid the same scenes and walked with the same friends that I had. Why to speak from the heart, I was overpowered with joy & so was he & the four hours we were together, were hours of enjoyment, singularity & pleasure the sailor rarely meets with—We had to part & he is now sailing in sight, astern of us—But in all prob- courtesy the new bedford whaling museum ability we will never meet again. The Gam, 1926 oil on canvas by Clifford W. Ashley. Sic transit voluptas mundi— 36 SEA HISTORY 174, SPRING 2021 For Elias Trotter it did seem like all its publication has now been so the pleasures of the world were merely tran- extensive, that longer silence would sitory. Languorous with boredom before be useless. We are, however, en- Neptune was sighted, he found his world abled to state that the conduct of suddenly upended by a strange sailor whose the young man has been such, for “manly beauty” and intelligent discourse some time past, as to induce his held him spellbound for the entire four friends to suppose that his way- hours of the gam. Now he was sitting wardness has been superinduced glumly in the stern of his vessel, pencil stub by partial insanity. in hand, watching as his new friend’s ship grew faint in the distance. It is a poignant scene, but who was the man who introduced himself first as Charles Wheeler, but then confessed to being Syl- vanus Spencer, of Albany, New York? Were either of those his correct identity? Ambrose Spencer was extremely well library of congress known at the time, and if Elias Trotter grew The Spencers were an extremely prominent up in Albany, he certainly was familiar with family in New York State at this time. In the name. Ambrose Spencer served as the 1845, Ambrose Spencer Sr. (left) was a retired mayor of Albany, Chief Justice of the New member of the US House of Representatives, York Supreme Court, and the US House a former mayor of Albany, and a former New of Representatives. He raised six children York State attorney general. His son, John there, two daughters and four sons—none Canfield Spencer (above), would have just was named Sylvanus. One of his sons was recently stepped down as the US Secretary of John Canfield Spencer, who had a son p.d. imagep.d. via wikipedia.com the Treasury. Previous posts included serving named Ambrose, who would have been the as the US Secretary of War (both under right age to encounter Elias Trotter off the In Philadelphia the Pennsylvania In- President John Tyler) and a previous stint as coast of Australia in 1845. If this was the quirer and National Gazette echoed the New York Secretary of State. Spencer that Trotter met at sea, his life was concern about Spencer’s erratic behavior: certainly colorful enough to fill up those “From this strange, inconsistent, and fool- unaccountable, indeed, that his afflicted four hours of gamming with a tale that ish conduct, his afflicted family are confi- relatives have imputed partial insanity to Trotter felt he could not include in his dent that he must be laboring under an him.” journal. alienation of mind. It is a sad, distressing In Columbus, Ohio, young Ambrose John Canfield Spencer served as sec- affair.” Spencer had gone into partnership with retary of war under President John Tyler, The newspapers give no greater details another forger named William B. Lloyd. and son Ambrose studied law and practiced of the younger Ambrose’s activities or of The details of their personal relationship in the state of Ohio. But the younger Am- his mental state, no specifics about other are obscure, but it is possible that the news- brose was evidently not a success as an objectionable behavior, no explanation of papers of the period hinted at a sexual li- attorney. He returned home to Albany, why forgery should be an indicator of insan- aison they were reluctant to openly discuss. New York, where he attempted to improve ity, but the label stuck. When a few weeks Nineteenth-century American newspapers his finances by forging his father’s signature. later Spencer appeared in New Orleans, abound with announcements of sodomy In February 1842 under the headline “An claiming to carry diplomatic dispatches arrests and prosecutions, but they rarely Unhappy Case,” the New-York Spector ran intended for Sam Houston, President of discuss such affairs beyond their criminal the following brief notice: the Republic of Texas, the Cleveland Dai- register column. The Ohio Statesman refers ly Herald titled its article, “The ‘Insane’ to William B. Lloyd as Ambrose Spencer’s It has been announced in several Special Minister!” TheOhio Statesman in “peculiar friend”—placing that term in of the papers that Mr. Ambrose turn told its readers, “We happen to know quotation marks to give it heightened sig- Spencer, Jr., of Ohio, son of the that the unfortunate young man referred nificance for their readers. The newspaper Secretary of War, has been ar- to has not been sent to Texas upon any such adds, “For a long time we heard nothing rested at Albany on a charge of errand, and that he has not been furnished of this Ambrose Spencer Jr., nor of his forgery. Respect for the feelings of with any such instructions or documents friend and partner William B. Lloyd, but the distinguished relatives of the as those described in the [New Orleans] supposed they were reposing in each other’s unhappy young man has hitherto Bee. The conduct of this young man has fond embrace, singing ‘Tippecanoe and prevented our noting the fact; but been very strange, for some time past,—so Tyler too’ guzzling hard cider, and pursu- SEA HISTORY 174, SPRING 2021 37 ing the old trade of the firm, for which they seemed so peculiarly fitted, both by their principles and practice!” This is the type of arch circumlocution used by newspapers of the period to make socially acceptable ref- erences to homosexual matters they did not wish to address openly in print. The way- ward Ambrose Spencer never reached Tex- as, but was last seen in New Orleans board- ing a steamship for New York in April 1842. Was this Ambrose the sailor of “manly beauty” who, signing on under a false name, Sylvanus Spencer in the headlines in the joined the crew of the whaler Neptune in New York Daily Times, 21 December 1843 when it sailed from Sag Harbor, New 1855 and again on 28 January 1857.