In Pursuit of the Essex

by Hughes, Ben;

  On 12 March a light wind sprung up from the southwest and the fog lifted. ‘Every eye was [immediately] … searching for a sail’, Porter recalled, but nothing was seen but ‘a wide expanse of ocean’ and the ‘barren … coast of Chile’. With the wind picking up, the topmen set the steering and skysails. That afternoon Porter spotted a fire burning in a cove, lit by Indians or smugglers and at sunset, as the frigate passed a wide river estuary, the crew shortened sail and hauled off from the land. The next morning the Essex cruised northwards and that evening hove to off the Point of Quaranilla, a commonly-used landmark marking the route to Valparaiso, the busiest port on the Chilean coast. On the 14th, with a flotilla of local fishing boats scattering on his approach, Porter rounded a rocky headland known as the Point of Angels. Scanning the bay through his telescope, he saw ‘a long sandy beach on the opposite side’ of the bay. Then ‘a large drove of loaded mules coming down the side of the mountain by a zigzag pathway’ appeared, ‘and in an instant afterwards the whole town [of Valparaiso], shipping with their colours flying and the forts, burst’ into view.20

  Founded in 1536 by the conquistador Juan de Saavedra, Valparaiso was built on land inhabited by the Changos, nomads who fished the bay from precarious seal-hide rafts. Despite several earthquakes and tsunamis and the depredations of Elizabethan seadogs such as Francis Drake and Richard Hawkins, by the early nineteenth century Valparaiso had grown into southern South America’s principal Pacific port. Three thousand residents inhabited two neighbourhoods. El Alemendral, a large triangular plain to the east covered with the wooden shacks of the poor, was connected to the port by the principal avenue, a winding road squeezed between the beach and a line of hills rising sharply inland. The San Francisco and San Augustin ravines accommodated two irregular plazas, administrative buildings and the mud-brick houses of the wealthier residents. Down by the beach was the custom house. Beyond were the roads. Protected from the prevailing southerly winds by rocky headlands, the anchorage sheltered ocean-going Spanish merchantmen, coastal traders, foreign whalers and men-of-war.21

  When the Essex arrived, there were seven ships at anchor. Five were Spanish merchantmen. With their topmen spread along the yards, they appeared to be bending their sails in preparation to put to sea. Porter presumed their destination was Callao, the port of the Peruvian capital of Lima, where cargoes of corn, tallow and hides produced in the fertile Chilean interior fetched good prices. Closer in shore was the Colt, a deeply-laden, 18-gun American brig. Her captain, Mr Musnon, was fifty miles inland at the capital of Santiago and had no intention of leaving port soon. Alongside was a ‘large and clumsy-looking’ brig flying British colours. With her bluff-bowed profile, Porter presumed she was a whaler, one of the few ocean-going ships not built for speed. As her sails were unbent and her crew were tarring the rigging, she appeared to have recently doubled the Horn.22

  Having surveyed the scene, Porter decided to stand out of the bay and sail north. Once out of sight he could await the British whaler while also allowing time for the Spanish ships to put to sea, thus preventing them carrying news of his arrival to the north. Mustering the crew, he announced his decision ‘in his usual animated and enthusiastic style’. According to Farragut, the men took the news in good humour and within four hours the Essex had left the port behind her. The next morning, however, Porter changed his mind. Concerned that either his rations or his men’s patience would not last, at 7 a.m. he ordered the crew to tack. Swinging the Essex’s bow to the south, he spent the best part of the day beating up against the prevailing winds.23

  At daylight, while the Essex was being kedged into Valparaiso Bay, Lieutenant Downes was sent ashore to ask permission to purchase supplies. Porter was worried about the reception he would receive: Spain was allied to Britain, recent US encroachments into Florida had created tension between the two nations and Madrid was notorious for jealously guarding her American possessions. Accordingly, Downes had been supplied with a fabricated story about losing a store-ship rounding the Horn. Such ‘artifice’ was not required. The lieutenant returned within half an hour on the governor’s barge bearing ‘an offer of every civility, assistance and accommodation that Valparaiso could afford’. To Porter’s ‘astonishment … [he] was informed that [the Chileans] had shaken off their allegiance to Spain; … the ports … were open to all nations’, the new government, the Junta of 1813, ‘looked up to the United States … for example and … that … [the Essex’s] arrival would be considered the most joyful event, as their commerce had been much harassed by corsairs … sent out by the [loyalist] viceroy of [Peru]’.24

  It is somewhat surprising that Porter was so taken aback by the news. South America had been in political turmoil for five years ever since Napoleon’s occupation of Spain. On learning of Ferdinand VII’s enforced abdication and the subsequent Spanish fight-back led by the Cortes, a temporary Junta of dubious legality set up in Cadiz, the continent’s creole elite had divided into factions. Some declared their loyalty to the Cortes. Others advocated establishing their own government while remaining loyal to the exiled King. A third group envisioned a break with the Cortes as the first step along the path to true independence. By 1813 Venezuela, New Granada (Colombia) and the River Plate were in a state of civil war. Peru, dominated by its powerful viceroy, José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, remained loyal to Spain, while Chile was in a state of flux.25

  Three years before the Essex’s arrival, the leading administrative, clerical and military figures in Santiago had established a political council known as the Congress. Initially conservative, this body rejected the authority of the Cortes while professing its loyalty to King Ferdinand. As the French occupation of Spain entered its third year, however, more radical elements began to emerge. In January 1811 the country’s ports were thrown open to international trade; in April, following an attempted counter-coup by a conservative colonel, the Audiencia – a colonial court representing the establishment – was abolished; and in September, José Miguel Carrera, a 25-year-old creole soldier who had recently returned from fighting in Spain, dissolved Congress and set himself up as a military dictator. With the aid of his brothers Juan José and Luis, Carrera had ruled the country ever since. Although vaguely committed to a revolutionary programme, a stance which brought him into conflict with Viceroy Abascal, Carrera made no formal declaration of independence. Bereft of any particular political ideals beyond a deeply-rooted antipathy towards England and an admiration for the anti-colonial stance of the United States, Carrera’s chief concern was holding onto power.26

  At 10.00 a.m. on 15 March Fort San Antonio, an old stone castle hewn directly from the rock, welcomed the Essex with a 21-gun salute. Having returned the compliment, Porter was rowed ashore with Lieutenant Gamble and Purser Shaw. Landing by the town’s cavernous custom house, they made their way along the cobbled streets crowded with sailors, fishermen and Indian and mestizo peasants dressed in ponchos and straw hats. The governor’s palace was a ‘shabby-looking’ two-storey building. Built on the main square in the grounds of an old fort, it lay deep in the morning shadow of the steep-sided hills behind it. Inside, Porter found the town’s principal citizens had gathered to receive him. It was a friendly reception, marked by toasts to republicanism, liberty and revolution. Porter thought the Captain of the Port of Valparaiso, Juan José Tortel Maschet, a Frenchman who had arrived in the New World eleven years before, ‘a sterling, honest patriot’. He ‘spoke his sentiments boldly’, Porter recalled, ‘and … was resolved to do the utmost to emancipate his [adopted] country’. Francisco de la Lastra de la Sotta, the 34-year-old governor of Valparaiso, was more cautious. Having learnt that a loyalist task force, dispatched from Peru under Brigadier Antonio Pareja, had arrived at the island of Chiloe, he was determined to steer a middle course.27

  After dispatching a courier to Santiago to alert Joel Roberts Poinsett, the American trade-consul in Santiago, of his arrival, Porter set about securing wood, water and provisions. Beyond the coastal mountain range, C
hile’s fertile central plain produced an abundance of apples, pears, peaches, melons, strawberries, onions, beans and potatoes. All were available at the daily market in Valparaiso along with coal, jerked beef, flour and live pigs. Poultry was priced at $2½ per dozen and a fine, white bread was flavoured with lard and anise. Fresh pork, beef and chicken were sourced from open-air butchers’ stalls set up in a plaza adjacent to the main square. Watering facilities, on the other hand, were inferior. ‘The only place whence we could procure it’, Porter complained, ‘was a small well near the landing-place by the custom house … As it afforded a supply of from one thousand to fifteen hundred gallons per day, I concluded to fix the period of our departure on the 22d [March], allowing one week to get all our supplies.’28

  That afternoon the Americans were informed that Governor Lastra intended to visit the Essex. Porter ‘went on board to receive him and on his arrival, with a numerous suite of officers, saluted him with eleven guns’. Lastra insisted on a guided tour. ‘The visit lasted about two hours’, Porter recalled, ‘and although [the Essex] appeared under great disadvantage, from having been so long at sea … they were much pleased and astonished that Anglo-Americans, as they styled us, could build, equip and manage ships of so large a size.’ Among the topics of conversation was the threat posed to Chilean commerce by Peruvian privateers operating out of Callao. Porter learnt that Abascal’s letters of marque had been poaching neutral shipping and several American and British ships had been detained. Particularly active were the Nereyda, a privateer of fifteen guns which had been lurking off the Chilean coast since July 1812 disguised as a whaler; the Santa Teresa, an armed brig captained by Juan Villa; and the Vulture, a privateer commanded by Captain Don Domingo Amezaga. The Americans were also informed of the latest international news: the Essex’s presence off the coast of the Brazils had been reported and Porter was delighted to learn of the capture of HMS Java by Bainbridge’s USS Constitution. ‘It was also stated that the Wasp, an American sloop of war, had captured a British sloop of war after a hard-fought action … and that the Constitution was repairing her damages at St. Salvador, where the British admiral (Dixon) had proceeded with a determination of destroying her.’ On leaving, Governor Lastra invited the American officers to a ball at his residence the following evening.29

  March 16th passed uneventfully. The watering party filled the ship’s casks and wooding parties cut timber on the shoreline. The carpenter’s and sailmaker’s crews made minor repairs and the officers, given an eight o’clock curfew, took it in turns to explore town. Valparaiso was full of grogshops, known as pulperias, and whorehouses. No doubt some of the produce of the former and the employees of the latter were snuck on board during the Essex’s stay. The men purchased food from the bumboats and dozens of China fowl and over 100 pigs were brought on board. Farragut named one Murphy and adopted it as his pet.30

  At sundown, Porter and several other officers were rowed ashore to attend the governor’s party. The town’s richer residents were engaged in an early evening promenade. Tinkers and chandlers hawking bundles of greasy, tallow candles moved amongst them, crossing themselves as the town’s six churches called the people to evening prayer. Inside Lastra’s apartments over 400 guests had gathered. Despite ‘disfigur[ing] … themselves’ with excessive make-up, Porter thought the local women showed ‘considerable taste … in their dress’. Many were ‘very handsome … their complexion[s were] remarkably fine and their manners modest and attractive’. After a blur of introductions in broken English, Spanish and French, a band struck up a minuet. Taking to the dance-floor, the Americans acquitted themselves admirably at first, but struggled with a series of country dances. ‘The ballas de tierra, as they are called … consisted of the most graceless … fatiguing movements of the body and limbs’, Porter opined, ‘accompanied by … indelicate and lascivious motions, gradually increasing in energy and violence, until the fair one, apparently overcome with passion … was compelled to retire to her seat.’31

  On 17 March Captain Munson of the Colt returned from Santiago with a letter for Porter from ‘the president and junta … They considered our arrival as the most happy event’, Porter recalled. ‘The bells [in Santiago] had been rung the whole day … and … it was generally believed that I had brought from my country nothing less than [formal] proposals for a friendly alliance with Chili.’ Porter chose to encourage his hosts in their misapprehension. When the local customs officer, whom Porter suspected of being ‘of monarchical principles’, insisted on charging an export duty on the provisions he had purchased, Porter wrote a letter to Poinsett in Santiago, protesting the imposition and inviting the Carreras to visit the Essex. By the morning of 18 March all charges had been waived. That afternoon several sacks of flour, bread and fruit were rowed out to the roads and stowed in the Essex’s hold. The following day pork, live hogs, flour and wood were loaded. The 20th saw sacks of beans, coal and bread brought out and by that afternoon the ship was ready for sea. ‘As the next day was Sunday’, Porter ‘determined to devote it to pleasure and invited the ladies and gentlemen of Valparaiso to spend the afternoon on board the ship.’ At 3 p.m. Poinsett arrived from Santiago accompanied by Luis Carrera, the president’s brother and commander-in-chief of the Chilean artillery. Received with a salute of eleven guns, they joined Porter and Mr Munson of the Colt in the Essex’s great cabin for dinner.32

  Porter spent the morning of Sunday 21 March readying the Essex for his guests. Bunting and flags were set up, food and drink prepared in the galley, an awning stretched from the rigging to provide shade and the barge, cutter, yawl and longboat were rowed ashore to the landing place. At 4 p.m. just as the first guests climbed on board, a large sail was sighted. Joined by Poinsett and Luis Carrera, both of whom were desperate not to miss out on anything, Porter cleared for action. The partitions were removed, the hammocks brought up to line the bulwarks and the awning and flags cut down. One of the anchor cables was chopped through. The other was allowed to slip to the seabed, its position marked by a buoy and by 5 p.m. the Essex was under weigh ‘under a cloud of canvas’. From the quarterdeck Porter thought the stranger had the appearance of a frigate pierced for thirty-two guns. Luis Carrera begged to be allowed to board the ‘enemy’, while ‘the hills [around the bay were] crowded with men, women and children, all equally … anxious … to see the fight’. With the breeze failing, Porter ordered the boats to tow the frigate and within an hour was alongside the stranger. She proved to be the Fama, a large Portuguese merchantman mounting twenty-two guns, sixty-seven days out from Rio. Although her captain, Desidiero Manuel de la Costa, had been chartered to sail to Valparaiso by the British consul, Lord Viscount Strangford, to collect a cargo of flour to feed Wellington’s troops in the Peninsula, the Fama was neutral under international law. Carrera was crestfallen. With sunset rapidly approaching, Porter decided to stand off and on in the bay for the night.33

  The next morning the Essex worked her way back into the anchorage. The Fama came in half an hour later while a thoroughly seasick Carrera was rowed ashore. Later, an invitation arrived to dine at Governor Lastra’s and at 1 p.m. a ‘great number’ of the Essex’s officers went on shore to attend. Flags flew around the batteries in the fort and an ‘extensive’, marquee had been erected in the courtyard. Besides the Americans, several local military commanders, Captain De la Costa and the officers of the Fama and a number of English merchants who had taken advantage of Congress’ open port ruling to set up business in town, enjoyed a twenty-course banquet served on silver plate. Unused to the local etiquette, Porter committed several faux pas. Having stuffed himself with a rather cloying entrée, he struggled with the dishes that followed and was unable to hide his disgust at a peculiarly Chilean habit of sharing bowls and cutlery, a custom which seems to have left all contemporary foreign visitors aghast. After dinner Lastra took Porter on a tour of the fortifications. Dancing followed and several Chilean officers, deep in their cups, proposed toasts to the newfound independence of their motherl
and. Embarrassed by the slight to Spain, the English merchants retired. That night one wrote to colleagues in Buenos Ayres alerting them of the presence of a US frigate in the Pacific. For the Americans, on the other hand, the evening proceeded with ‘much hilarity’ and Porter did not retire until 1 a.m.34

  Discipline had suffered in his absence. Despite the eight o’clock curfew imposed on petty and warrant officers, Carpenter Waters had spent the night on shore. ‘As he was a worthless fellow’, Porter ‘did not permit him to return on board … again.’ Gunner Miller was also in trouble. Caught smuggling rum on board and guilty of ‘conducting himself improperly in other regards’, he was demoted to ordinary seaman and confined in the hold. On 23 March, the Essexes prepared to put to sea. All the prisoners taken from HMP Nocton, with the exception of one who had tried to escape the night before, were released on parole and put ashore along with Mr. Nelson, a Dane taken on board from the Elizabeth and permitted to remain as a passenger on the Essex thus far. Carpenter’s Mate John Langley was promoted to replace his master, Quarter-Gunner James Spafford lingered on in the sick berth and Porter penned a letter updating Commodore Bainbridge on the Essex’s adventures so far.35

  At midday an American whaler, the George, dropped anchor in the roads. Porter had her captain, Benjamin Worth, a 44-year-old from Nantucket, rowed on board the Essex.

  [He] informed me that a few days before he had spoken with two English armed whalers, one off the island of Mocha, the other off the harbour of Conception; that three other American whalers were in company; and that the English ships were the first that gave them intelligence of the war … They had no orders to capture American vessels, but were in daily expectation of authority to that effect.