by Dean King
I discovered that we should meet with great delays from the prevalence of calms; and as I could form no plans for future operations until my arrival at the general rendezvous of the whalers, I considered it adviseable to put the crew on two quarts of water per day. This reduction was now severely felt, as the weather was extremely hot; but all seemed reconciled to bear every privation without a murmur. The health of the crew had improved in a remarkable manner since leaving Valparaiso, and at this time we had but two men on the sick list, one affected by chronic debility, the other by a pain in the muscles of the neck, but neither disabled from coming to their quarters. Doctor Miller, the surgeon of the ship, a very infirm man, who was in a deep consumption when he joined the ship, and whose health had not improved on board her, requested permission to go with his servant on board the Barclay, and there remain, as he believed that a change of water, pure air, and greater tranquillity would render his situation more tolerable. As the extreme debility of the gentleman prevented him from doing his duty on board, and as he was constantly complaining of his sufferings from the confined air of this ship, I was happy he had fallen on an expedient to render his existence more supportable and took the first opportunity of sending him on board the Barclay, where he soon found himself more comfortably situated than amidst the noise and confusion of a man of war, for which his low state of health entirely unsuited him.
AT DAY-LIGHT ON the morning of the 29th [of April], I was roused from my cot, where I passed a sleepless and anxious night, by the cry of “Sail ho!” “Sail ho!”which was re-echoed through the ship, and in a moment all hands were on deck. The strange sail proved to be a large ship, bearing west, to which we gave chase; and in an hour afterwards we discovered two others, bearing southwest, equally large in their appearance. I had no doubts of their being British whale-ships; and as I was certain that toward mid-day, as usual, it would fall calm, I felt confident we should succeed in taking the whole of them. I continued my pursuit of the first discovered vessel, and at nine o’clock spoke her under British colours. She proved to be the British whale-ship Montezuma, Captain Baxter, with one thousand four hundred barrels of spermaceti oil. I invited the captain on board; and while he was in my cabin, giving me such information as was in his power respecting the other whale-ships about the Gallipagos, I took his crew on board the Essex, put an officer and crew in the Montezuma, and continued in pursuit of the other vessels, which made all exertions to get from us. At eleven A.M., according to my expectation, it fell calm; we were then at the distance of eight miles from them. I had reason, from the information obtained, to believe them to be the British armed whale-ships Georgiana, of six eighteen-pounders, and the Policy, of ten six-pounders, the one having on board thirty-five, and the other twenty-six men; but that they were British ships, there could not be a doubt, and we were determined to have them at all hazards. Thick and hazy weather is prevalent here, and, as there was every indication of it, I was fearful that, in the event of a breeze, one or the other of them might make its escape from us, as I had understood that they were reputed fast sailers. I therefore thought it adviseable to attempt them in our boats, and with this view had them prepared for the purpose, and in a few minutes they departed in two divisions.
Lieutenant Downes, in the whale-boat, commanded the first division, consisting of the third cutter, Lieutenant M’Knight, jolly-boat, Sailing-Master Cowell, and second cutter, Midshipman Isaacs; and Lieutenant Wilmer, in the pinnace, commanding the second division, consisting of the 1st cutter, Lieutenant Wilson, and gig, Lieutenant Gamble of the marines. The heavy-rowing boats occasioned considerable delay to the whole, as I had given the most positive orders that the boats should be brought into action all together, and that no officer should take advantage of the fleetness of his boat to proceed ahead of the rest, believing that some of them, from their extreme anxiety to join with the enemy, might be so imprudent as to do so. At two o’clock, the boats were about a mile from the vessels (which were about a quarter of a mile apart), when they hoisted English colours, and fired several guns. The boats now formed in one division and pulled for the largest ship, which as they approached, kept her guns trained on them. The signal was made for boarding; and, when Lieutenant Downes arrived within a few yards of her gangway and directed them to surrender, the colours were hauled down. They now proceeded for the other vessel, after leaving an officer and some men on board, and as soon as she was hailed, she followed the example of the first by striking her colours. Shortly afterwards a breeze sprung up, the prizes bore down for us, and we welcomed the safe return of our shipmates with three hearty cheers. The captured vessels proved to be, as I had expected, the Georgiana, captain Pitts, of two hundred and eighty tons, and the Policy, of two hundred and seventy-five tons; and these three vessels, which we had taken with so little trouble, were estimated to be worth in England upwards of half a million of dollars. The ease with which the last vessels were taken by our open boats gave us but a poor opinion of British valour; and the satisfaction which the possession of these valuable vessels gave us made us forget for a moment the hardships of Cape Horn and the time we had spent without seeing an enemy. It also afforded us a useful lesson, as it convinced us we ought not to despair of success under any circumstances, however unfortunate they may appear; and that, although the patient and persevering may for a time meet with disappointments, fortune will at length most commonly make amends. Slight murmurings had on one or two occasions been heard from some of the crew, occasioned by our want of success heretofore, and with a view of preventing it in future, I considered it adviseable to inculcate this maxim by the following note:
SAILORS AND MARINES,
Fortune has at length smiled on us, because we deserved her smiles, and the first time she enabled us to display free trade and sailors’ rights, assisted by your good conduct, she put in our possession near half a million of the enemy’s property.
Continue to be zealous, enterprising, and patient, and we will yet render the name of the Essex as terrible to the enemy as that of any other vessel before we return to the United States. My plans shall be made known to you at a suitable period.
(Signed)D. PORTER.
April 30,1813.
The possession of these vessels, besides the great satisfaction it produced, was attended by another advantage of no less importance, as it relieved all our wants except one, to wit, the want of water. From them we obtained an abundant supply of cordage, canvas, paints, tar, and every other article necessary for the ship, of all of which she stood in great need, as our slender stock brought from America had now become worn out and useless. Besides the articles necessary for the ship, we became supplied with a stock of provisions, of a quality and quantity that removed all apprehensions of our suffering for the want of them for many months, as those vessels, when they sailed from England, were provided with provisions and stores for upwards of three years, and had not yet consumed half their stock. All were of the best quality; and were it only for the supplying our immediate wants the prizes were of the greatest importance to us. We found on board of them, also, wherewith to furnish our crew with several delicious meals. They had been in at James’ Island and had supplied themselves abundantly with those extraordinary animals the tortoises of the Gallipagos, which properly deserve the name of the elephant tortoise. Many of them were of a size to weigh upwards of three hundred weight; and nothing, perhaps, can be more disagreeable or clumsy than they are in their external appearance. Their motion resembles strongly that of the elephant; their steps slow, regular, and heavy; they carry their body about a foot from the ground, and their legs and feet bear no slight resemblance to the animal to which I have likened them; their neck is from eighteen inches to two feet in length, and very slender; their head is proportioned to it and strongly resembles that of a serpent. But, hideous and disgusting as is their appearance, no animal can possibly afford a more wholesome, luscious, and delicate food than they do; the finest green turtle is no more to be compared to them in point
of excellence than the coarsest beef is to the finest veal; and after once tasting the Gallipagos tortoises, every other animal food fell greatly in our estimation. These animals are so fat as to require neither butter nor lard to cook them, and this fat does not possess that cloying quality common to that of most other animals. When tried out, it furnishes an oil superior in taste to that of the olive. The meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity of it, exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without experiencing the slightest inconvenience. But what seems the most extraordinary in this animal, is the length of time that it can exist without food; for I have been well assured, that they have been piled away among the casks in the hold of a ship, where they have been kept eighteen months, and when killed at the expiration of that time, were found to have suffered no diminution in fatness or excellence. They carry with them a constant supply of water, in a bag at the root of the neck, which contains about two gallons; and on tasting that found in those we killed on board, it proved perfectly fresh and sweet. They are very restless when exposed to the light and heat of the sun, but will lie in the dark from one year’s end to the other without moving. In the day-time, they appear remarkably quick-sighted and timid, drawing their head into their shell on the slightest motion of any object; but they are entirely destitute of hearing, as the loudest noise, even the firing of a gun, does not seem to alarm them in the slightest degree, and at night, or in the dark, they appear perfectly blind. After our tasting the flesh of those animals, we regretted that numbers of them had been thrown overboard by the crews of the vessels before their capture, to clear them for action. A few days afterwards, at daylight in the morning, we were so fortunate as to find ourselves surrounded by about fifty of them, which were picked up and brought on board, as they had been lying in the same place where they had been thrown over, incapable of any exertion in that element, except that of stretching out their long necks.
I had merely placed a temporary crew on board the prizes, but took the first opportunity to make a more permanent arrangement, putting Midshipman Odenheimer in charge of the Montezuma, and Midshipman Cowan of the Policy, giving them the necessary directions for clearing their decks of the lumber of oil casks and other articles, to bend all their light sails, and reave their running rigging, which had all been unbent and unrove, as unnecessary while fishing, and to preserve them from injury. I also furnished them with the necessary signals and appointed the island of Plata, and the bay of Tumbez, as rendezvous in case of separation, directing them to use the utmost economy in the expenditure of their provisions, stores, and water, ordering all hands to be put on the same allowance as the crew of the Essex.
On examining the Georgiana, I found her not only a noble ship but well calculated for a cruiser, as she sailed well, had been built for the service of the British East-India Company, and had been employed as a packet until this voyage. I therefore determined to equip and arm her completely, and mounted on her the ten guns of the Policy, making her whole number now sixteen, to which were added two swivels and a number of heavy blunderbusses mounted on swivels, as well as all the muskets, pistols, cutlasses, and other military equipments we could find on board the other vessels. By these means rendering her as formidable, in point of armament, as any of the British letters of marque I could hear of in this ocean. But this I did not undertake until I was well satisfied she could be well manned without reducing too much my own crew. A number of seamen captured in the prizes had already proffered their services to us; and on inquiry I found many of them to be Americans. They volunteered their services in equipping the Georgiana and freeing her from much of the lumber on board, consisting of empty casks and other cumbrous articles, which were sent on board the other prizes. The heavy brick-work and large iron boilers used for trying out the oil were taken down to give more room on her decks and relieve her from the great weight, which was found greatly to improve her sailing. The command of this vessel, now completely equipped for war, I gave to Lieutenant Downes, with a crew consisting of thirty-six of our own men and five of the men who had entered from prizes, making her number altogether forty-one men. The remainder I kept on board the Essex, whose crew now amounted to two hundred and sixty-four men, including officers, and those on board the Barclay. I appointed Midshipman Haddaway as acting lieutenant on board the Georgiana and sent Mr. Miller (my former gunner) there to do duty, as well as Kingsbury as boatswain and two quarter-masters. The equipping and manning of this vessel also enabled me to make some promotions on board my own ship from some of the most deserving of my crew, to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the petty officers sent on board her. We now considered the sloop of war Georgiana, as she was styled, no trifling augmentation of our own force. But, taken in another view, she was of the utmost importance to our safety; for, in the event of any accident happening to the Essex, a circumstance to which she was every moment liable, while cruising in a sea with which we were little acquainted, we could calculate on relief from the Georgiana. Added to this, she doubled the chance of annoying the enemy, and might serve as an excellent decoy, as we were particularly careful not to change in the slightest degree her appearance as a whaler. On the 8th she hoisted the American ensign and pendant, and saluted the Essex with seventeen guns, which was returned by our crew with three cheers.
The light baffling winds and strong westerly currents prevented me now from laying any plans for my future operations; my whole attention was turned to getting up to the islands again, as I had intelligence of several other British vessels being in the neighbourhood and expected there; among others the Perseverance, the Rose, and the New Zealand, three fine vessels with nearly full cargoes. I felt anxious to get into port to recruit my stock of water and wood, the only articles we now stood in want of, as was the case with my prizes, which were all short of water. But I was desirous of looking once more into Banks’ Bay, where I confidently expected, on a change of current, to make as many prizes as I could conveniently man.
The weather being remarkably pleasant, I took advantage of it to put our rigging in order, by overhauling and tarring it, and painting the ship inside. As we had been enabled to procure an abundance of small spars, planks, timber, and nails, I set the carpenters to work, making many repairs, which we had not heretofore been enabled to do for the want of the necessary materials; for although we had had it in our power to supply ourselves at Valparaiso, I did not procure them there, confidently believing that the enemy would, in due time, furnish us with what we wanted.
Doctor Miller, about this time, became dissatisfied with his new situation on board the Barclay, and expressed a desire to remove to the Policy, where the accommodations, he had understood, were equal to those of the Barclay. To this wish I assented; as the captain of the Policy was in very low health, I had been induced to let him remain on board his ship. As he was a man of considerable loquacity, and some intelligence, I believed that the doctor would find himself agreeably situated, if it were possible to make him so, as to comfort and society.
Porter cruised the Galapagos Islands from April 17 to October 3, 1813, taking a dozen prizes. After repairing ship and reprovisioning in the Marquesas Islands, he returned to the coast of South America in January of 1814. His cruise continues in the next passage.
1 The Standard was a British third-rate built in 1782.
2 James Spafford was accidentally shot by a fellow, near-sighted officer at dusk on the island of Mocha as the men were shooting wild horses for meat.
David Porter
Showdown at Valparaiso
1814
WITH HIS CAPTURED PRIZE ATLANTIC, rechristened the Essex Junior, Captain Porter, commanding the Essex, entered the bay at Valparaiso, the principal seaport of Chile, ostensibly a neutral nation. Heretofore unchallenged, his profitable days in the South Pacific were about to end. In this passage, the proud captain narrates his bitter engagement with HMS Phoebe, commanded by Captain James Hillyar, and HMS Cherub, Captain Thomas Tucker.
ON THE 3R
D OF FEBRUARY I anchored in the bay of Valparaiso, exchanged salutes with the battery, went on shore to pay my respects to the governor, and the next day received his visit under a salute. The governor was accompanied by his wife and several of his officers.
The Essex Junior was directed to cruise off the port, to intercept the enemy’s merchant vessels and to apprise me of the appearance of any of his ships of war. In the mean time, every effort was made to get the Essex ready for sea, while my crew were allowed by turns to go ashore on liberty. The attention and hospitality of the people of Valparaiso seemed to increase; and not having had an opportunity to return their civilities on my former visit, I took advantage of the present occasion to supply the omission. On the evening of the seventh, I invited the officers of the government, their families, and all the other respectable inhabitants, to an entertainment on board the Essex. To give Lt. Downes an opportunity to participate in these gayeties, I directed him to anchor his vessel, but so as to save a full view of the sea.
The dancing continued until midnight; after which Lt. Downes repaired to his vessel, got her under way, and proceeded to sea. We had not yet taken down the awnings, flags, &c. which we usually employed on these occasions for the decorations of ships of war, nor got clear of the confusion which so large a company naturally occasioned, before the Essex Junior made a signal for two enemy’s ships in sight. At this time, one half of my crew were on shore; but, having established a signal for them to repair on board, I caused a gun to be fired, and after directing the ship to be prepared for action, repaired on board the Essex Junior, and went out to reconnoitre. Both vessels had the appearance of frigates. Upon this I directed Lt. Downes to run into port and take a position where we could mutually; defend each other.