In Pursuit of the Essex

by Hughes, Ben;

  On the morning of 26 October, Gattanewa sent Porter several small pigs, coconuts and plantains. The Greenwich, Sir Andrew Hammond, Seringaptam and New Zealander worked their way into the bay, while Porter constructed a rudimentary encampment on shore where the sailmakers, coopers and carpenters could work. An extensive plain situated between the territories of the Taeehs and Happahs, was selected. It was uninhabited and spotted with sixty-foot breadfruit trees whose canopies provided much-needed shade. The site commanded the countryside and dominated the bay. Guarded by the frigate’s marines, the men constructed an outer wall from empty water casks and erected a large marquee in the interior were the ship’s sails where taken for repair. With the curious Taeehs crowding round, the Essex was hauled in shore to within cannon range, while the prizes were lined up further out in the bay.

  That afternoon a Happah war band came down the mountainside and laid waste to a Taeeh orchard of breadfruit trees. Porter fired several signal guns as a warning and raised the cornet from the Essex’s masthead to call the men ashore back on board. The noise stopped the Happahs in their tracks and, with Taeeh warriors forming up to counter-attack, they retreated over the mountains. A message arrived shortly afterwards. As the Americans had permitted the destruction of the trees, the Happahs considered them cowards and vowed to return and carry off their sails. In response Porter ordered one quarter of each ship’s company to be armed and landed at 4 p.m. each afternoon to guard the camp. The men were to be permitted to ‘stroll about the valley and amuse themselves’ while ashore. Porter also had a tent erected in the encampment to serve as his personal quarters. He claimed his presence was needed to ‘preserve order’ and being ashore would improve his health after ‘being so long confined to the ship’.15

  The following morning Porter decided to pre-empt the Happahs’ next move. Gattanewa agreed to have a cannon hauled up a nearby mountain to bombard the enemy positions and Downes was ordered to land one of the Essex Junior’s 6-pounders. The barrel and carriage were rowed ashore and set up on the beach amongst a crowd of natives who demanded a demonstration. ‘First’, Porter recalled, ‘a shot was fired with the gun, considerably elevated.’ The sudden spout of water which marked the roundshot’s fall far out to sea was greeted with ‘a general shout of admiration … I then directed the gun to be fired, [so] that the ball might skip along the surface of the water. At every bound [the Taeehs] … gave a general shout of applause … last of all, I directed her to be fired with grape-shot, which seemed to afford them more pleasure than all the rest; they hugged and kissed the gun, lay down beside it, fondled it with the utmost delight and at length, slung it to two long poles and carried it toward the mountain.’

  That afternoon, a second 6-pounder was set up in the camp and a long swivel gun was mounted on the walls. The ships’ masts, spars and sails were taken down and a brick bread oven was constructed from the captured whalers’ dismantled tryworks. The Essex’s rigging was stripped and replaced and the contents of her hold, storerooms and magazine were transferred to the prizes in preparation for fumigation. Onshore, Cooper Adams began replacing the Essex’s water casks, many of which had rotted through, while Carpenter Langley and his crew re-caulked the frigate’s seams. At sundown, Feltus wandered through the Taeeh village. A sprawling settlement running the length of the valley, it consisted of several communal feasting halls grouped around a central square. Beyond numerous huts had been constructed around central, coconut wood ridge-poles, reinforced with bamboo frames. For roofing, breadfruit and coconut tree leaves were interwoven to create a rain-proof thatch.16

  On 28 October Porter was introduced to the Taeehs’ chief warrior. A heavily-muscled man of about thirty-five years of age, Mouina had ‘an intelligent and open countenance’, was over six feet tall and wore a striking scarlet cloak and feathered headdress. ‘He had … left the other warriors in the fortified village’ at the mountain pass, Porter recalled, to ask ‘me to cause a musket to be fired that he might witness its effects.’ Mouina’s request proved rather opportune. The Happahs had once more descended from the mountainside and had begun to gather around the American encampment. Several had thrown stones at the tents and although none had dared to enter, Porter felt another show of force was required. Accordingly, he took a musket and fired several shots at a target ‘to show them that I never failed of hitting an object the size of a man’. As the Happahs were evidently unmoved, Gamble’s marines reduced a barrel to shreds with volley fire and another messenger was dispatched to warn them that the Americans would retaliate should they be attacked. The response was the opposite that Porter had desired. Rather than being reassured by his attempts at negotiation, the Happahs saw it as a sign of weakness. With each passing day, they grew bolder and once again threatened to raid the encampment and make off with the ships’ sails. This proved the final straw. With the 6-pounder in place on the mountain top, Porter decided on a pre-emptive strike. If the Taeehs would provide porters to bear their ammunition, Porter promised to send men to attack their rivals the following morning. Gattanewa agreed.17

  At first light the strike force gathered. Led by Lieutenants Downes and Gamble, it consisted of twenty sailors and twenty-nine marines, each accompanied by a native porter. Several other tribesmen were tasked with carrying provisions and roundshot and powder for the cannon. A number of warriors led by Mouina completed the force. They were armed with coconut-bark-fibre slings, elaborately carved war clubs and two types of spear: light throwing weapons whose tips were designed to break off on impact; and fourteen-foot-long hand-to-hand weapons made from a highly-polished black wood known as toa. At 6 a.m. Porter gave the order to move out. No sooner had the men disappeared into the jungle than a breathless Gattanewa begged Porter to arrange a last-minute truce. Suspecting treachery, Porter had him held hostage until the expedition’s return. Moments later, a girl ran into camp saying she had seen a party of Happahs approaching. Porter manned the defences with the carpenters, coopers and sailmakers and fired the alarm gun to bring reinforcements ashore. Several minutes passed before a band of warriors was spotted ‘skulking among the reeds and grass’ on a nearby hill. Elevating the barrel of the camp’s 6-pounder, Porter scattered them with a few shots. There was ‘no other interruption of alarm during the day’.

  Up in the mountain passes, Downes’ men had come under attack. With the enemy pelting them with spears and sling stones, the Americans and Taeehs dislodged the Happahs from one position after another with concentrated musket volleys. Mouina was particularly active. Beckoning his companions onwards alongside an exuberant native porter bearing the American flag, he could be seen from the encampment below. Shortly after midday, the Happahs made a final stand in a fortress on the brow of a steep hill. Protected by a breastwork of interlocking tree trunks, the Happahs rained missiles down on their foes from a fighting platform. Downes was struck in the stomach with an oval sling stone. Another American was pierced through the neck with a spear. The Happahs bared their backsides in contempt and the Taeehs began to falter until Downes led a second charge. With three cheers, the Americans rushed into the fort and unleashed a close-range musket volley. One Happah had the top of his head blown off. Four others were mortally wounded, set upon by Taeeh braves and finished off with war clubs. As the survivors fled, the Taeehs dipped the points of their spears in their enemies’ blood then plundered a nearby village unopposed before stringing the bodies of their victims between long poles and returning home, weighed down with their booty. Porter ordered Gattanewa liberated and the chief celebrated the victory in the village square.18

  The next morning Porter entered the Taeeh village with Wilson and a marine guard. Having heard rumours of the natives’ predilection for cannibalism, he was keen to ascertain the truth. Five or six hundred villagers had assembled around the dead bodies in the main square. Two priests were leading them in ritual chanting and several warriors were beating out a rapid rhythm on large drums. When the Americans’ were discovered, the dead bodies were snatched awa
y. Porter recoiled in disgust and ‘directed them … to return the[m]’. Guessing at the source of their guest’s discomfort, the natives assured him they had had no intention of eating the dead, explaining they wished to offer them up as sacrifices to the spirit of the priest killed prior to the Americans’ arrival. Porter ‘consented to their request’, although a lingering doubt remained.19

  At 5 p.m. Mowattaeeh, a Happah chief, was received at the American encampment. After berating him for the Happah’s hostility, Porter reassured Mowattaeeh of his peaceful intentions and, in exchange for a weekly delivery of hogs and fruit, offered iron ‘and other articles as would be most useful to them’. In return, Mowattaeeh promised to rally representatives from all the tribes on the island to help build a more lasting settlement for the Americans. His proposal met with approval and in less than two days envoys had arrived from every tribe with the exception of the Typees, a warlike people of 3,500 warriors who resided at the head of Comptroller’s Bay.20

  Over the next few days the Americans fell into an easy routine. In the mornings and afternoons they worked on the ships and made themselves more comfortable on shore. The brick oven produced enough loaves to feed the entire complement, allowing Porter to preserve his supplies of hard tack. Boatswain Linscott set up a ropewalk to make cables, while the coopers produced barrels and the Essex’s hold was cleared. On 1 November the magazine was emptied and the main topmast, which had rotted through, was replaced with a spare which Porter had had the foresight to bring from the United States. Later, the frigate was hauled up onto the beach and careened. With the aid of several Taeehs, who had improvised scrapers from halved coconut shells, her copper bottom was cleared of barnacles and seaweed. Damaged sheets were replaced with others stripped from the prizes and the hull was repainted red and white. Finally, the Essex was ‘thoroughly smoked’. Large pots filled with charcoal were lit and distributed about the decks. By the time the ship was aired, 1,500 rats had been killed.

  At 4 p.m. each day, the Americans ceased work. The men wrestled on the beach, pitched quoits or strolled through the valleys and mountain heights. Others explored the Taeeh villages or amused themselves fishing for ‘the large and ravenous’ sharks which ‘infested’ the bay, one of which had ‘devoured’ a villager not long after the Americans’ arrival. At nightfall a quarter of the men were allowed to remain on shore. The rest returned to the ships and every Sunday a gathering took place on the Essex Junior. Compared with the typical discipline of navy life, it was a convivial atmosphere and even the prisoners from the Sir Andrew Hammond were allowed the freedom of the valley.21

  Some of the Essexes established relationships with local women. Piteenee, Gattanewa’s granddaughter whom Porter had admired on the first day at the beach, accepted one of his junior officers as her partner, much to the captain’s annoyance, and the Taeehs began to recognise the Americans as individuals. Some were even dubbed with Marquesan names. Porter became Opotee, Downes was Onou, Lieutenant Wilmer was Wooreme and McKnight was Muscheetie.22

  To protect their innocence, Porter had the young midshipmen and boys separated from the rest of the crew. Under the guidance of Chaplain Adams, they spent their days studying on board the Sir Andrew Hammond. Classes focussed on navigation and mathematics, but as Adams was a cultured man, the curriculum may also have included writing, literature and history. Adams displayed a keen interest in the culture of the islands and collected several ‘Indian curiosities’ during his stay. At 4 p.m. school finished. The youngsters spent the rest of the day rambling on the beach in company with the native boys. ‘From them we learned to throw the spear and walk on stilts’, Farragut recalled, ‘[and] the art of swimming. It really appears as natural for these islanders to swim as to eat … [and] I have often seen mothers take their little children, apparently not more than two years old, down to the sea on their backs, wade deliberately into deep water and leave them to paddle for themselves. To my astonishment, the little creatures could swim like young ducks.’23

  On 3 November 4,000 natives representing tribes across Nuka Hiva gathered at the American encampment with sufficient building materials to construct a village. To Porter’s amazement, by nightfall the settlement was complete. A house for Porter and another for his officers was built, along with a sail loft, a cooper’s shop, a hospital, a bake-house, a guard house and a shed for the sentinel to walk under while performing his nightly rounds. Each building was fifty feet in length and connected to the next by a four-foot defensive wall. The whole was laid out in the form of a crescent. Porter was particularly impressed by the natives’ organisation. ‘Nothing could exceed the regularity with which these people carried on their work’, he noted, ‘without any chief to guide them, without confusion and without much noise … Each man appeared to be the master of his business and every tribe appeared to strive [to see] which should complete their house with most expedition and in the most perfect manner. When the village was completed’, Porter recalled, ‘I distributed among them several harpoons and as usual gave them an opportunity of contending for old iron hoops. All were perfectly happy and contented and it was the cause of great pleasure to Gattanewa and his people that I praised the house they had built above all the rest.’24

  In November, ten of the Sir Andrew Hammonds plotted their escape. Their leader was Edward Lawson, the ship’s first mate. Having bribed two marines charged with guarding the frigate’s spirit supply, Lawson had amassed a quantity of rum which he dosed with laudanum, intending to drug the crew of the Essex Junior, the only ship ready for sea, and sail to freedom. Although aware of Lawson’s plan, Porter lacked evidence and decided only to arrest the British whalers once their guilt had been proved beyond doubt. The two culpable marines, on the other hand, were flogged ‘severely’, while the rest of Gamble’s men were warned to be extra vigilant. Nevertheless, the next evening the marine tasked with guarding the bake-house fell asleep on watch. Furious, Porter shot him through the fleshy part of his thigh. ‘If the punishment should appear a severe one’, he commented in his journal, ‘let those who censure me place themselves for a moment in my situation: I was far from the means of obtaining a judicial enquiry into his offence, which would probably have terminated fatally for him; promptness and vigilance on my part were the only sure guarantees to the success of a cruise so highly important to the interests of my country.’25

  Porter’s problems were compounded by unrest amongst his crew. Having been at sea for over a year, many of their contracts were about to expire, a perennial problem in the US Navy, brought to a head when Quartermaster Robert Dunn threatened to quit. Due to be punished for neglect of duty, Dunn had used the pretext of his contract’s imminent expiration to blackmail Porter. If the captain insisted on going through with the punishment, Dunn assured him he ‘would never again do duty in the ship’. Porter’s reaction was typically uncompromising. Mustering the crew, he ordered Dunn to strip to receive his lashes. ‘I assured him’, Porter recalled, ‘that I should punish him severely … [then] turn him on shore … observing that his time was out and it was proper he should have his discharge.’ Porter then offered the rest of those whose contracts were up for renewal two options. ‘If they wished to enlist again, I would … give them the usual advance and on a suitable occasion give them three days liberty on shore[;] … such as refused to enlist, but would bind themselves to do duty, might remain on board till I would have an opportunity of putting them on shore in some civilized place. They should be supplied with provisions; but should be allowed neither pay nor prize-money.’ Only one man, ‘from some foolish whim’, chose the latter. The rest were reenlisted. Dunn, having begged forgiveness, was exonerated of his crime.26

  Ever since the Happahs’ humiliation, an extensive tribute of hogs, breadfruit, sugar cane, taro, bananas and coconuts had been delivered to the American village by the various tribes. The Typees alone were conspicuous by their absence. Having sent a message purporting his desire for peace while at the same time threatening them with destruction
, Porter was shocked when the offer was rebuffed and in the second half of November, the Typees made increasingly threatening gestures. In response Porter constructed a fort on a hill dominating the Taeeh valley and the bay. Once the top of the hill had been levelled by native work parties, several empty watercasks were filled with soil and stacked to form a breastwork pierced for fourteen guns. Four small cannon were mounted on the walls. ‘All worked with zeal’, Porter noted and by 14 November the project was complete.27

  That afternoon lookouts spotted a sail at the head of the bay. Several signal cannon were fired and the stranger set sail in flight. Boarding the Essex Junior, Downes slipped his cables and set off in pursuit. The stranger proved to be the Albatross, an American merchantman whose captain, William Smith, was looking to pick up a cargo of sandalwood before returning to Canton. After a short chase, Downes brought him too with a shot across his bows. The ships returned in company, the Albatross dropping anchor off the beach at Port Anna Maria at 1 p.m. on 16 November.28