The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

The following day, six additional sailors refuse to return to work. These six sailors join the original forty-four men, and all fifty men are locked up at Camp Shoemaker, with Small put in solitary confinement. Admiral Wright asks to meet with Small, where he accuses him of being the leader of the group and insists that Small return to work. Small refuses, losing his temper in the process. 

Captain Nelson Goss, one of the commanding officers at Port Chicago, provides Admiral Wright with a report on the alleged mutineers. In his report, Goss claims that the black sailors had “a consistent attitude towards discrimination” (95), arguing that the sailors were inclined to see racism where there was none. In his own report, Admiral Wright echoes Goss’ conclusions, writing that the mutiny was solely due to “fear” from the explosion (95). Goss fails to recognize any racist policies in the Navy, or the unsafe working conditions that had been implemented by Captain Kinne at the pier. Wright forwards his report to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the recommendation that white sailors join the black sailors in loading explosives. Roosevelt recommends that “light punishments” should be given to the sailors who returned to work, believing that their fear was “understandable” (96). However, he allows the Navy to decide on the punishment for the remaining fifty sailors who continued to refuse loading explosives.

The Navy decides to charge the fifty sailors with mutiny, with Lieutenant Commander James Coakley being assigned as prosecutor. Coakley believes Small to be the leader of the mutiny, certain that he intentionally coaxed the other sailors into disobeying orders. However, during questioning, Small’s fellow sailors refuse to name Small as a leader, instead explaining that they acted of their own accord. When Coakley questions Small directly, he asks Small what led to the sailors refusing to follow the order of “column left” on August 9. Small tells Coakley that the sailors had “sensed something wrong,” but that there had initially been no plan to refuse work (100). Coakley finally questions some of the sailors who had returned to work, asking them what Small had said during his speech on the prison barge. Though each sailor describes the scene in varying ways, it becomes clear that Small had “said something about sticking together and having the officers ‘by the balls’” (102). Coakley determines that this proves Small had intentionally stirred discord amongst the sailors, leading him to believe that the fifty sailors “were guilty of premeditated mutiny” (102).

On September 14, 1944, the court-martial is held to hear the fifty sailors’ case on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. Lieutenant Gerald Veltmann is assigned to defend the alleged mutineers and is given such little time to prepare that he is unable to speak with each of his defendants before the trial. The court-martial is judged by a group of seven Naval officers rather than a jury of citizens. Though most military trials are kept private, the Port Chicago trial is open to the press, as it is “the largest mass trial in the history of the United States Navy” (104). As prosecutor, Coakley intends to show that the fifty accused sailors had intentionally planned to join together as a group and refuse to obey orders. 

Coakley calls Commander Tobin as his first witness, asking him to describe in detail the events of August 9, the day the sailors refused to obey orders. In his cross-examination, Veltmann questions Tobin sharply, hoping to poke holes in Coakley’s argument and show that the actions of the fifty sailors do not match the Navy’s definition of mutiny. While the Navy stipulates that mutiny can only be charged in cases where there is “a deliberate purpose to usurp, subvert or override authority,” Veltmann intends to illustrate that the sailors were largely respectful of authority in their actions (108). In his cross-examination, Veltmann makes Tobin admit that the sailors did not refuse to disobey all orders—only the order to load explosives. Likewise, Veltmann continually asks Tobin whether the sailors committed any riots or other violent acts, with Tobin repeatedly confirming that the sailors were not violent. 

Afterwards, Coakley calls Lieutenant Delucchi to the stand, asking him to describe the events of August 9 as well. Delucchi testifies that, on several occasions, he overheard sailors use harsh and foul language in describing their officers—including the term “white motherf—ers” (110). Coakley had not been able to find any corroborating witnesses for Delucchi’s testimony, and many of the sailors believe Delucchi to be lying on the stand. In his cross-examination, Veltmann questions Delucchi if he can pinpoint which sailor used the harsh language Delucchi heard. Though Delucchi claims to have heard the language, it was only when his back was turned. As such, he is unable to say definitively that any of the accused sailors used harsh language about him and the other officers.

Coakley continues to build his case against the fifty sailors by calling to the stand several black sailors who had initially refused to work, but ultimately returned to loading explosives. Coakley questions one sailor, Edward Johnson, as to what he heard in the barracks the night before August 9, when the sailors first disobeyed their orders. Johnson testifies that he heard people saying they were afraid to load explosives, “and that it would be better for the rest of us to stick together” (116). In his cross-examination, Veltmann asks whether any specific individual told Johnson and the rest of the men to stick together, or to not load explosives, to which Johnson repeatedly answers “no.” A sailor named Joseph Gray testifies that a petition was passed around the barracks, which stated that “the undersigned men…refuse to handle ammunition” (118). Veltmann asks Gray whether the list definitively used the word “refuse,” or simply stated that the men “don’t want to” load explosives. Gray admits that he cannot remember the specific wording, and that it could have been either phrase. 

Later, Coakley calls witnesses to testify about the speech Small made to his fellow sailors on the prison barge. One sailor, Edward Stubblefield, testifies that he heard Small say “if we all stick together…they couldn’t do anything with us and we had better obey the officers” and that “we had the officers ‘by the ass.’” (120). During cross-examination, Veltmann gets Stubblefield to admit that the goal of Small’s speech was to encourage the sailors to obey orders and not fight with the guards. Through this and other cross-examinations, Veltmann effectively casts doubt on Coakley’s case, showing that there had never been intentional plans to disobey orders, and that Joe Small had not served as leader of the soldiers. 

During this time, AfricanAmericans around the country are paying particularly close attention to news stories of the Port Chicago 50, since, to them, the trial sheds light on the “pattern of discrimination” black people face both within the Navy and America in general (114). Likewise, the current secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, follows the trial closely, as he believes the trial provides proof that racial segregation is a failed and useless policy. Forrestal convinces President Roosevelt to approve desegregation within the Navy, and the Navy experiments with placing black sailors alongside white sailors on several ships. The trial eventually reaches the attention of Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP, who believes that there is no evidence for the charges and that the sailors “are being tried for mutiny solely because of their race” (121). Marshall receives permission from Forrestal to observe the trial and, thus, flies to Treasure Island in early October.

Coakley’s prosecution takes the first ten days of the trial, after which Veltmann begins to call defense witnesses. Veltmann decides to call each of the accused sailors to testify, so each one can give a defense in his own words. However, fearing that the judges will grow bored, Veltmann calls the most important witness first: Joe Small, the supposed leader of his fellow soldiers. Rather than focus on the alleged mutiny, Veltmann asks Small to describe the explosion at Port Chicago and the sailors’ mood in the days after the incident. Small tells stories of how, after the explosion, the sailors would often run out of the barracks in the middle of the night after thinking they heard another explosion. The testimony emphasizes the level of the sailors’ fear in the aftermath of the Port Chicago disaster.

Veltmann later asks Small about the charges alleged against him, directly questioning whether Small intentionally told his fellow sailors to disobey orders. Small denies ever trying to lead a mutiny plot and also testifies that he never put his name on the “list” of sailors who refused to follow orders. Small also describes a conversation he had with Lieutenant Delucchi before boarding the prison barge. In the conversation, Delucchi told Small that Small was being placed in charge of his Division on the ship to keep order amongst his fellow soldiers. Small then testifies that his only aim in delivering a speech on the prison barge was to follow through on Delucchi’s orders to keep his fellow sailors from fighting with the Navy officers. After this testimony, Coakley begins his cross-examination of Small, during which he tries to convince Small to testify that he told his fellow sailors to refuse to load explosives. While Small admits that he had individually decided not to load explosives, he says he never told another soldier to disobey orders, and there had never been a “secret plot” against the Navy (129). 

Thurgood Marshall listens to Small’s testimony, and mostly approves of the case the defense is mounting. However, Marshall is disappointed that the defense is only focusing on the flaws in Coakley’s prosecution. Instead, Marshall believes the defense should introduce the Navy’s racist policy of segregation, as well as the “unsafe working conditions” the sailors encountered at the site, in order to fully explain why the sailors disobeyed orders (130). When the court is in recess, Marshall visits with the accused sailors, informing them that the NAACP is paying close attention to their trial.