The Globe was a whaling ship, owned by C. Mitchell and Company and other smaller merchants of the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Thomas Worth, of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, was the captain when the Globe left Nantucket on December 19, 1822 for a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean. On returning from whaling in the Sea of Japan, with 550 barrels of whale oil, the Globe sailed to the Sandwich Islands for a fresh supply of food, after which the ship sailed to Oahu, Hawaii. It was there that six men deserted and seven new men were hired to take their place.

Not soon after leaving Oahu, on January 26, 1824 a mutiny occurred on the Globe, led by Samuel B. Comstock, an officer and boat-steerer. Captain Worth and his fellow officers were murdered. Twenty two days later, on the shore of Mili Atol in the South Pacific, Comstock was shot by his fellow mutineers. Gilbert Smith, a boat-steerer on the Globe, who had been saved from violence of the mutiny by pretending to support Comstock's cause, was sent by the new commander of the mutiny, Payne, back to the ship. Smith and six others were able to quietly sail away in the Globe.

After a long trip the survivors reached Valparaiso, Chile, where the American Consul, Michael Hogan, took possession of the Globe, and the men on board were put in irons and placed on a French ship. Each of the survivors was questioned about what happened on board the Globe.

Peter C. Kidder was one of the sailors who had survived the mutiny and sailed back with Smith to Valparaiso. After Smith and Kidder gave their depositions, they returned to Nantucket.