{290}
_Porter's Cruise in the Essex--His Campaign Against the
Typees--Destruction of the British Whaling Interest in the
Pacific--Battle with the Phoebe and the Cherub--The Peacock and the
Epervier--The Wasp and the Reindeer--The Wasp and the Avon--Destruction
of the General Armstrong--Loss of the President--The Constitution
Captures the Cyane and the Levant--The Hornet and the Penguin._
|The naval contests of 1814 and the winter of 1815 repeated and
emphasized the lesson of the first year of the war; they were all, with
but two exceptions, American victories.
The remarkable cruise of the _Essex_, commanded by Captain David Porter,
begun late in 1812, extended along the coast of South America, around
Cape Horn, and throughout almost the entire eastern half of the Pacific,
ending in a bloody battle in the harbor of Valparaiso, in March, 1814.
The prizes taken in the Atlantic were of little value, except one. The
packet ship _Nocton_, captured just south of the equator, had $55,000 in
specie, on board, with which Porter subsequently paid off his men.
She was put in charge of a prize crew, and {291}sailed for the United
States, but was recaptured on the way by a British frigate.
Porter had sailed under orders to meet Commodore Bainbridge, who had
gone to sea with the _Constitution_ and the _Hornet_. But after failing
to find either of those vessels at three successive rendezvous, he
determined to carry out a plan which he had submitted to the Secretary
of the Navy some time before, for a cruise against the British whalers
in the Pacific. After the usual stormy passage, he doubled Cape Horn in
February, 1813. His description of one of the gales shows us that the
greatest dangers undergone by a man-of-war are not always from the guns
of the enemy.
"It was with no little joy we now saw ourselves fairly in the Pacific
Ocean, calculating on a speedy end to all our sufferings. We began also
to form our projects for annoying the enemy, and had already equipped,
in imagination, one of their vessels of fourteen or sixteen guns, and
manned her from the _Essex_, to cruise against their commerce. Indeed,
various were the schemes we formed at this time, and had in fancy
immense wealth to return with to our country. But the wind freshened
up to a gale, and by noon had reduced us to our storm stay-sail and
close-reefed main-top-sail. In the afternoon it hauled around to the
westward, and blew {292}with a fury far exceeding anything we had yet
experienced, bringing with it such a tremendous sea as to threaten us
every moment with destruction, and appalled the stoutest heart on board.
Our sails, our standing and running rigging, from the succession of bad
weather, had become so damaged as to be no longer trustworthy; we took,
however, the best means in our power to render everything secure, and
carried as heavy a press of sail as the ship would bear, to keep her
from drifting on the coast of Patagonia, which we had reason to believe
was not far distant.
"From the excessive violence with which the wind blew, we had strong
hopes that it would be of short continuance; until, worn out with
fatigue and anxiety, greatly alarmed with the terrors of a lee shore,
and in momentary expectation of the loss of our masts and bowsprit, we
almost considered our situation hopeless. To add to our distress, our
pumps had become choked by the shingle ballast, which, from the violent
rolling of the ship, had got into them, and the sea had increased to
such a height as to threaten to swallow us at every instant. The whole
ocean was one continual foam of breakers, and the heaviest squall that
I ever experienced had not equalled in violence the most moderate
intervals of this tremendous hurricane. We had, however, done {293}all
that lay in our power to preserve the ship, and turned our attention
to our pumps, which we were enabled to clear, and to keep the ship from
drifting on shore, by getting on the most advantageous tack. We were
enabled to wear but once; for the violence of the wind and sea was such
as afterward to render it impossible to attempt it, without hazarding
the destruction of the ship and the loss of every life on board. Our
fatigue had been constant and excessive; many had been severely bruised
by being thrown, by the violent jerks of the ship, down the hatchways,
and I was particularly unfortunate in receiving three severe falls,
which at length disabled me from going on deck.
"We had shipped several heavy seas, that would have proved destructive
to almost any other ship. About three o'clock of the morning of the 3d,
the watch only being on deck, an enormous sea broke over the ship, and
for an instant destroyed every hope. Our gun-deck ports were burst in,
both boats on the quarter stove, our spare spars washed from the chains,
our head-rails washed away, and hammock stanchions burst in, and
the ship perfectly deluged and water-logged. Immediately after this
tremendous shock, which threw the crew into consternation, the gale
began to abate, and in the morning we were enabled to set our reefed
foresail. {294}In the height of the gale, Lewis Price, a marine, who had
long been confined with a pulmonary complaint, departed this life, and
was in the morning committed to the deep; but the violence of the sea
was such that the crew could not be permitted to come on deck to attend
the ceremony of his burial, as their weight would have strained and
endangered the safety of the ship.
"When this last sea broke on board us, one of the prisoners exclaimed
that the ship's broadside was stove in, and that she was sinking. This
alarm was greatly calculated to increase the fears of those below, who,
from the immense torrent of water that was rushing down the hatchways,
had reason to believe the truth of his assertion. Many who were washed
from the spar- to the gun-deck, and from their hammocks, and did not
know the extent of the injury, were also greatly alarmed; but the men
at the wheel, and some others, who were enabled by a good grasp to keep
their stations, distinguished themselves by their coolness and activity
after the shock."
Porter touched at the island of Mocha, and afterward ran into the harbor
of Valparaiso, where he learned that his arrival in the Pacific was
most opportune; for there were many American whalers that had left home
before the war began, and knew {295}nothing of it, while some English
whalers, sailing later, had taken out letters of marque, and carried
guns, and were making prizes of the unsuspecting Americans.
Porter soon captured a Peruvian privateer, and two English whalers, and
recaptured an American ship that had been taken by the enemy. One of
the whalers carried six guns, and the other ten. He placed the entire
armament in the faster sailer, cut away her try-works, and with some
other alterations converted her into a war-vessel, giving the command
of her to John Downes, his first lieutenant. Subsequently a still better
ship for the purpose was captured, and the armament was shifted to that,
which was then re-christened _Essex Junior_.
With these two ships Porter scoured the ocean for the next six months,
and took numerous prizes, nearly all English whalers, several of which
had armed themselves as privateers. One he loaded with oil and sent
home. Two or three, as he could spare no more men for prize crews, he
disarmed and allowed to go home in charge of their own crews, carrying
also the other prisoners, all of whom were paroled. One captain, whom
he found cruising as a privateer without a commission as such, he put in
irons, to be tried as a pirate when the _Essex_ should return home. In
that six months, Porter and {296}Downes had captured four thousand tons
of British shipping, taking four hundred prisoners; and as they could
now hear of no more in that part of the Pacific, they went in October to
the Marquesas Islands, to refit their vessels and let the crews have a
rest and a run on shore.
There in the beautiful harbor of Nukahiva they made repairs and wooded
and watered at their leisure. Porter formally took possession of the
island in the name of the United States, called it Madison's Island, and
the harbor Massachusetts Bay, and built a fort on the shore, in which
he mounted four guns. Near the fort he constructed a small village,
consisting of six houses, a rope-walk, a bakery, and other buildings,
which he named Madisonville.
His "Journal" gives an interesting account of their life for four or
five weeks among the natives of that romantic and then almost unknown
group. One of the most exciting incidents of it was a war between two
tribes--the Happahs and the Typees--occupying different parts of the
island. All the tribes of the island except the Typees had made a sort
of treaty of friendship and alliance with Porter. As he and his men
were guests of the Happahs, and the Typees had begun to treat them as
enemies, Porter felt obliged to join in the war, when the superiority
of the fire-arms over the native {297}weapons ended it in the disastrous
defeat of the Typees. But this was not accomplished without severe
fighting, in which the Typees exhibited the most determined courage, and
a great degree of military skill, making the best of such weapons and
advantages as they had. Porter's campaign in the Typee valley is one of
the most singular episodes in all the annals of war, and the reader will
probably be interested in some passages from his account of it, though
it has no necessary connection with the subject to which this volume is
devoted.
"We arrived at the Typee landing at sunrise, and were joined by ten
war-canoes from the Happahs. The _Essex Junior_ soon after arrived and
anchored. The tops of all the neighboring mountains were covered with
the Taeeh and Happah warriors, armed with their spears, clubs, and
slings. The beach was covered with the warriors who came with the
canoes, and who joined us from the hills. Our force did not amount to
a less number than five thousand men; but not a Typee or any of their
dwellings were to be seen. For the whole length of the beach, extending
upward of a quarter of a mile, was a clear level plain which extended
back about one hundred yards. A high and almost impenetrable swampy
thicket bordered on this plain, and {298}the only trace we could
perceive which, we were informed, led to the habitations, was a narrow
pathway which winded through the swamp.
"The canoes were all hauled on the beach, the Taeehs on the right, the
Happahs on the left, and our four boats in the centre. We only
waited for reënforcements from the Essex Junior, our interpreter, our
ambassadors, and Gattanewa [chief of the Happahs], I went on board to
hasten them on shore, and on my return to the beach I found everyone in
arms. The Typees had appeared in the bushes, and had pelted our people
with stones while they were quietly eating their breakfast.
"I had a man with me who had intermarried with the Typees, and was
privileged to go among them, and I furnished him with a white flag and
sent him to tell them I had come to offer peace, but was prepared for
war. In a few minutes he came running back, and informed me he had met
in the bushes an ambuscade of Typees, who had threatened to put him to
death if he again ventured among them. In an instant afterward a shower
of stones came from the bushes, and at the same moment one of the Typees
darted across the pathway and was shot through the leg, but was carried
off by his friends.
"Lieutenant Downes arrived with his men, and I {299}gave the order to
march. We entered the bushes, and were at every instant assailed by
spears and stones, which came from different parts of the enemy in
ambuscade. We could hear the snapping of the slings, the whistling of
the stones; the spears came quivering by us, but we could not perceive
from whom they came. No enemy was to be seen, not a whisper was to be
heard among them.
"We had advanced about a mile, and came to a small opening on the bank
of a river, from the thicket on the opposite side of which we were
assailed with a shower of stones, when Lieutenant Downes received a blow
which shattered the bone of his left leg, and he fell. The allied tribes
sat as silent observers of our operations; the sides of the mountains
were still covered with them, and I as well as the Taeehs had no slight
grounds to doubt the fidelity of the Happahs. A defeat would have sealed
our destruction.
"The Indians began to leave us, and all depended on our own exertions.
I directed Mr. Shaw with four men to escort Lieutenant Downes to the
beach, which reduced the number of my men to twenty-four. We soon came
to a place for fording the river, in the thick bushes of the opposite
bank of which the Typees made a bold stand. We endeavored in vain to
clear the bushes with our musketry. {300}The stones and spears flew with
augmented numbers. I directed a volley to be fired, three cheers to be
given, and to dash across the river. We soon gained the opposite bank,
and continued our march, rendered still more difficult by the underwood,
which was here so interlaced as to make it necessary sometimes to crawl
on our hands and knees.
"On emerging from the swamp, we perceived a strong and extensive wall
of seven feet in height, raised on an eminence crossing our road, and
flanked on each side by an impenetrable thicket. In an instant afterward
we were assailed by such a shower of stones, accompanied by the most
horrid yells, as left no doubt that we had here to encounter their
principal strength. A tree which afforded shelter from their stones
enabled me, accompanied by Lieutenant Gamble, to annoy them as they
rose above the wall to throw at us; but these were the only muskets that
could be employed to advantage.
"Finding we could not dislodge them, I gave orders for taking the place
by storm. But some of my men had expended all their cartridges, few
had more than three or four remaining, and our only safety depended on
holding our ground till we could procure a fresh supply. I despatched
Lieutenant Gamble and four men to the _Essex Junior_, and from the time
of their departure we were chiefly occupied {301}in eluding the stones,
which came with redoubled force and numbers. Three of my men were
knocked down by them. As a feint, we retreated a few paces, and in
an instant the Indians rushed on us with hideous yells. The first and
second that advanced were killed at the distance of a few paces, and
those who attempted to carry them off were wounded. They abandoned their
dead, and precipitately retreated to their fort. Taking advantage of the
terror they were thrown into, we marched off with our wounded, returning
to the beach much fatigued and with no contemptible opinion of the
enemy.
"The next day I determined to proceed with a force which I believed they
could not resist, and selected two hundred men from the _Essex_, the
_Essex Junior_, and the prizes. As some of the boats were leaky, I
determined to go by land, over the mountain ridge. We had a fine,
moonlight night, and I hoped to be down in the Typee valley long before
daylight.
"Not a whisper was heard from one end of the line to the other. Our
guides marched in front, and we followed in silence up and down the
steep sides of rocks and mountains, through rivulets, thickets, and
reed-brakes, and by the sides of precipices which sometimes caused us to
shudder. At twelve o'clock we could hear the drums beating in {302}the
Typee valley, accompanied by loud singing, and the number of lights
in different parts of it induced me to believe they were rejoicing.
I inquired the cause, and was informed by the Indians that they were
celebrating the victory they had obtained over us, and calling on
their gods to give them rain in order that it might render our bouhier
[muskets] useless.
"The Indians told us it would be impossible to descend without daylight;
and when it was light enough to see down the valley, we were surprised
at the height and steepness. A narrow pathway pointed out the track, but
it was soon lost among the cliffs. Before I left the hill, I determined
by firing a volley to show the natives that our muskets had not received
as much injury as they had expected from the rain. As soon as they heard
the report, and discovered our number, which, with the multitude of
Indians of both tribes who had now assembled, was very numerous, they
shouted, beat their drums, and blew their war-conchs from one end of the
valley to the other; and what with the squealing of the hogs, which they
now began to catch, the screaming of the women and children, and the
yelling of the men, the din was horrible.
"We descended with great difficulty into the village of the Happahs,
where everything bore the ap{303}pearance of a hostile disposition on
their part. I sent for their chief, and required to know if they were
hostilely disposed. I told him it was necessary we should have something
to eat, and that I expected his people to bring us hogs and fruit, and
if they did not do so, I should be under the necessity of sending out
parties to shoot the hogs and cut down their fruit-trees, as our people
were too fatigued to climb them. I also directed that they should lay by
their spears and clubs. No notice being taken of these demands, I caused
many of their spears and clubs to be taken from them and broken, and
sent parties out to shoot hogs, while others were employed in cutting
down cocoanut and banana trees until we had a sufficient supply. The
chiefs and people now became intimidated, and brought baked hogs in
greater abundance than was required.
"At daylight next morning the line of march was formed. On ascending the
ridge where we had passed such a disagreeable night, we halted to take
breath, and view for a few minutes the delightful valley which was soon
to become a scene of desolation. We had a distant view of every part.
The valley was about nine miles in length, and three or four in breadth,
surrounded on every part, except the beach, by lofty mountains. The
upper part {304}was bounded by a precipice many hundred feet in height,
from the top of which a handsome sheet of water was precipitated,
and formed a beautiful river which ran meandering through the valley.
Villages were scattered here and there; the bread-fruit and cocoanut
trees flourished luxuriantly and in abundance; plantations laid out
in good order, enclosed with stone walls, were in a high state of
cultivation; and everything bespoke industry, abundance, and happiness.
Never in my life did I witness a more delightful scene or experience
more repugnance than I now felt for the necessity which compelled me to
punish a happy and heroic people.
"A large assembly of Typee warriors were posted on the opposite banks
of the river, and dared us to descend. In their rear was a fortified
village, secured by strong stone walls. Drums were beating and
war-conchs sounding, and we soon found they were making every effort to
oppose us.
"As soon as we reached the foot of the mountain we were annoyed by a
shower of stones from the bushes and from behind stone walls. After
resting a few minutes, I directed the scouting parties to gain the
opposite bank of the river, and followed with the main body. The
fortified village was taken without loss on our side; but their
chief warrior and another were killed, and several wounded. They
{305}retreated only to stone walls on higher ground, where they
continued to sling their stones and throw their spears. Three of my men
were wounded, and many of the Typees killed, before we dislodged them.
"Parties were sent out to scour the woods, and another fort was taken
after some resistance; but the party, overpowered by numbers, were
compelled to retreat to the main body, after keeping possession of it
half an hour. We were waiting, in the fort first taken, for the return
of our scouting parties. A multitude of Tayees and Happahs were with
us, and many were on the outskirts of the village, seeking for plunder.
Lieutenant McKnight had driven a party from a strong wall on the high
ground, and had possession of it, when a large party of Typees, who had
been lying in ambush, rushed by his fire and darted into the fort with
their spears. The Tayeehs and Happahs all ran. The Typees approached
within pistol-shot, but on the first fire retreated precipitately,
crossing the fire of McKnight's party, and although none fell, we had
reason to believe that many were wounded. The spears and stones were
flying from the bushes in every direction; and although we killed and
wounded in this place great numbers of them, we were satisfied that we
should have to fight our way through the whole valley. {306}"I sent a
messenger to inform the Typees that we should cease hostilities when
they no longer made resistance, but so long as stones were thrown I
should destroy their villages. No notice was taken of this message.
"We continued our march up the valley, and met in our way several
beautiful villages, which we set on fire, and at length arrived at their
capital--for it deserves the name of one. We had been compelled to fight
every inch of ground, and here they made considerable opposition. The
place was soon carried, however, and I very reluctantly set fire to it.
The beauty and regularity of this place were such as to strike every
spectator with astonishment. Their public square was far superior to
any other we had met with. Numbers of their gods were here destroyed;
several large and elegant new war-canoes were burned in the houses that
sheltered them, and many of their drums were thrown into the flames. Our
Indians loaded themselves with plunder, after destroying bread-fruit and
other trees and all the young plants they could find. We had now arrived
at the upper end of the valley, about nine miles from the beach, and at
the foot of the waterfall above mentioned.
"After resting about half an hour, I directed the Indians to take care
of our wounded, and we formed {307}the line of march and proceeded down
the valley, in our route destroying several other villages, at all of
which we had some skirmishing. At one of these places, at the foot of
a steep hill, the enemy rolled down enormous stones, with a view of
crushing us to death. The number of villages destroyed amounted to ten;
and the destruction of trees and plants, and the plunder carried off by
the Indians, was almost incredible. The Typees fought us to the last,
and even at first harassed our rear on our return; but parties left in
ambush soon put a stop to further annoyance.
"We at length came to the formidable fort which checked our career on
our first day's enterprise, and although I had witnessed many instances
of the great exertion and ingenuity of these islanders, I never had
supposed them capable of contriving and erecting a work like this. It
formed the segment of a circle, and was about fifty yards in extent,
built of large stones, six feet thick at the bottom and gradually
narrowing to the top. On the left was a narrow entrance, merely
sufficient to admit one person's entering. The wings and rear were
equally guarded, and the right was flanked by another fortification
of greater magnitude and equal strength and ingenuity. I directed the
Indians and my own men to put their shoulders to the wall and endeavor
{308}to throw it down; but no impression could be made upon it. It
appeared of ancient date, and time alone can destroy it. We succeeded
in making a small breach, through which we passed on our route to the
beach,--a route which was familiar to us, but had now become doubly
intricate from the number of trees which had since been cut down and
placed across the pathway.
"The chiefs of the Happahs invited me to return to their valley,
assuring me that an abundance of everything was already provided for us;
and the girls, who had assembled in great numbers, dressed out in their
best attire, welcomed me with smiles. Gattanewa met me on the side of
the hill as I was ascending. The old man's heart was full; he could not
speak; he placed both my hands on his head, rested his forehead on my
knees, and after a short pause, raising himself, placed his hands on
my breast, and exclaimed _Gattanewa!_ and then on his own and said
_Apotee!_ [Porter] to remind me we had exchanged names.
"When I reached the summit of the mountain, I stopped to contemplate
that valley which in the morning we had viewed in all its beauty. A long
line of smoking ruins now marked our traces from one end to the other,
the opposite hills were covered with the unhappy fugitives, and the
whole presented {309}a scene of desolation and horror. Unhappy and
heroic people! the victims of your own courage and mistaken pride.
While the instruments of your fate shed the tear of pity over your
misfortunes, thousands of your countrymen--nay, brethren of the same
family--triumphed in your distresses.
"The day of our return was devoted to rest. But a messenger was
despatched to the Typees to inform them I was still willing to make
peace, and that I should not allow them to return to their valley until
they had come on terms of friendship with us, and exchanged presents.
They readily consented to the terms, and requested to know the number
of hogs I should require. I told them I should expect from them four
hundred, which they assured me should be delivered without delay.
"Flags were now sent from all the other tribes, with large presents of
hogs and fruit, and peace was established throughout the island. The
chiefs, the priests, and the principal persons of the tribes were very
solicitous of forming a relationship with me by an exchange of names
with some of my family. Some wished to bear the name of my brother, my
son-in-law, my brother-in-law, etc., and when all the male stock were
exhausted, they as anxiously solicited the names of the other sex. The
name of my son, however, was more desired than any other, {310}and many
old men, whose long gray beards rendered their appearance venerable,
were known by the name of _Pickaneenee Apotee_; the word 'pickaninny'
having been introduced among them by the sailors."
Captain Porter was undoubtedly sincere in the belief that what he had
done was a necessity of war. But when we consider that it arose simply
from the refusal of a people, standing on their own ground, to enter
into a treaty of amity with strangers whose language they could not
speak, and whose purposes they did not understand, it looks as if the
captain had imposed a pretty heavy penalty for a small offence,
and given the unfortunate Typees as unfair treatment as he himself
experienced a few months later in the harbor of Valparaiso.
Meanwhile, Captain Porter had learned that an English frigate had been
sent out to stop his career; and as whalers had now become scarce, and
he had taken as many prizes as he could well manage, after refitting at
the Marquesas Islands, he sailed in search of his enemy. The truth was,
Captain James Hillyar, of the British navy, was looking for him with
_two_ ships, the _Phoebe_ and the _Cherub_, mounting respectively
fifty-three and twenty-eight guns; and there is good reason to believe
that the Admiralty had sent him out with stringent orders to find and
{311}destroy or capture the _Essex_ at all hazards. He found her at
Valparaiso, and blockaded her there for six weeks. On one occasion the
_Essex_ and the _Phoebe_ almost fouled, through the fault of the latter,
and Porter called away his boarders and in a moment more would have been
on the Englishman's deck; but Hillyar protested so earnestly that he had
no intention of attacking in a neutral port, that he was permitted to
withdraw from his suspicious position. Had Porter been more shrewd and
less chivalrous, he would perhaps have seen that there was no way to
account for the position of the _Phoebe_, except on the supposition that
Hillyar was intending to carry the _Essex_ by boarding, had he not found
her commander and crew too ready for him. That he cared nothing for the
neutrality of the port, was demonstrated by his subsequent conduct.
After vainly offering battle on equal terms, Porter, on the 28th of
March, attempted to put to sea. But his ship was struck by a heavy
squall, which carried away the main-top-mast. Being pursued by the
_Phoebe_ and _Cherub_, he tacked about, reentered the harbor, and
anchored within pistol-shot of the shore. Paying not the slightest
regard to the neutrality of the port, the enemy followed the _Essex_,
took a position under her stern, and opened fire. Even under this
disadvantage, Porter got three long {312}guns out at the stern ports,
and fought them so skilfully that in half an hour both the _Phoebe_
and the _Cherub_ drew off for repairs. They next took a position on
the starboard quarter, out of reach of the carronades that composed
the Essex's broadside, and fired at her with their long guns. Under his
flying jib, the only sail he could set, Porter ran down upon the enemy,
and after a short and intense action at close range, drove off the
_Cherub_. But the _Phoebe_ edged away again out of reach of his
carronades, and kept up a steady fire from her long guns. The slaughter
on board the _Essex_ was sickening. At one gun, three whole crews were
swept away in succession. Says Captain Porter, in his 'Journal', "I
was informed that the cockpit, the steerage, the ward-room, and the
berth-deck could contain no more wounded; that the wounded were killed
while the surgeons were dressing them; and that, unless something was
speedily done to prevent it, the ship would soon sink from the number of
shot-holes in her bottom."
The captain next tried to run her ashore; but while she was still nearly
a mile from the land, the wind suddenly shifted. A hawser was bent to
the sheet anchor, and the ship swung round so as to bring her broadside
to bear on the enemy, but the hawser soon parted. Indeed, she had
anchored in {313}the first place with springs on her cables, but the
springs had been repeatedly shot away. *
With all these misfortunes, the ship took fire, and as the flames burst
up the hatchways Porter ordered all who could swim to jump overboard and
strike out for the shore, as the boats had been destroyed by the enemy's
shot. The flames were extinguished; but the Essex was now a wreck,
deliberately raked by every discharge from her antagonist, and the
colors were struck. The _Essex Junior_ had been in no condition to
assist in the fight, but was included in the surrender. Out of two
hundred and fifty-five men, Porter had lost one hundred and fifty-four
in killed, wounded, or missing. Hillyar reported the loss on his two
ships as five killed and ten wounded.
The battle had been witnessed by thousands of people on shore. So near
were the vessels to land a part of the time, that many of the _Phoebe's_
shot struck the beach. The United States Consul, Joel R. Poinsett,
protested to the Chilian authorities
* A "spring" of this sort is a rope, one end of which is attached to the
cable and the other end carried to the after part of the ship, so that
by hauling upon it she can be swung round to point her broadside in
any desired direction. A high authority--Farragut--says one of Porter's
serious mistakes in this action was in fastening the springs to the
cable, when they should have been fastened to the anchor, which would
have carried the greater part of them below the surface of the water,
out of the reach of shot.
{314}against the violation of neutrality, and demanded that the
batteries protect the _Essex_; but he received no satisfactory answer,
and took the first opportunity of leaving the country. Captain Porter
estimated that it had cost the British Government nearly six million
dollars to possess his ship.
Among the crew of the _Essex_ was a midshipman twelve years old, who
subsequently became the greatest of all naval commanders, David G.
Farragut.
In his "Journal" he describes vividly the battle and the part he took
in it. Some passages will be of interest here, as they present pictures
seldom found in the descriptions of such contests:
"I well remember the feelings of awe produced in me by the approach of
the hostile ships; even to my young mind it was perceptible in the faces
of those around me, as clearly as possible, that our case was hopeless.
It was equally apparent that all were ready to die at their guns, rather
than surrender; and such I believe to have been the determination of the
crew, almost to a man. There had been so much bantering of each other
between the men of the ships, through the medium of letters and songs,
with an invariable fight between the boats' crews when they met on
shore, that a very hostile sentiment was engendered. Our flags were
flying from every mast, and the enemy's vessels displayed {315}their
ensigns, jacks, and motto-flags, as they bore down grandly to the
attack.
"I performed the duties of captain's aid, quarter-gunner, powder-boy,
and in fact did everything that was required of me. I shall never forget
the horrid impression made upon me by the sight of the first man I
had ever seen killed. He was a boatswain's mate, and was fearfully
mutilated. It staggered and sickened me at first; but they soon began to
fall around me so fast that it all appeared like a dream, and produced
no effect on my nerves. I can remember well, while I was standing near
the captain, just abaft the mainmast, a shot came through the water-ways
and glanced upward, killing four men who were standing by the side of
the gun, taking the last one in the head and scattering his brains over
both of us. But this awful sight did not affect me half as much as
the death of the first poor fellow. I neither thought of nor noticed
anything but the working of the guns.
"On one occasion Midshipman Isaacs came up to the captain and reported
that a quarter-gunner named Roach had deserted his post. The only reply
of the captain, addressed to me, was, 'Do your duty, sir.' I seized a
pistol and went in pursuit of the fellow, but did not find him.
"Soon after this, some gun-primers were wanted. {316}and I was sent
after them. In going below, while I was on the ward-room ladder, the
captain of the gun directly opposite the hatchway was struck full in the
face by an eighteen-pound shot, and fell back on me. We tumbled down the
hatch together. I struck on my head, and fortunately he fell on my hips.
As he was a man of at least two hundred pounds' weight, I would have
been crushed to death if he had fallen directly across my body. I lay
for some moments stunned by the blow, but soon recovered consciousness
enough to rush up on deck. The captain, seeing me covered with blood,
asked if I was wounded, to which I replied, 'I believe not, sir.'
'Then,' said he, 'where are the primers?' This first brought me
completely to my senses, and I ran below again and carried the primers
on deck. When I came up the second time, I saw the captain fall, and in
my turn ran up and asked if he was wounded. He answered me almost in the
same words, 'I believe not, my son; but I felt a blow on the top of my
head.' He must have been knocked down by the windage of a passing shot.
"When my services were not required for other purposes, I generally
assisted in working a gun; would run and bring powder from the boys, and
send them back for more, until the captain wanted me to carry a message.
{317}"I have already remarked how soon I became accustomed to scenes
of blood and death during the action; but after the battle had ceased,
when, on going below, I saw the mangled bodies of my shipmates, dead and
dying, groaning and expiring with the most patriotic sentiments on their
lips, I became faint and sick. As soon as I recovered from the first
shock, however, I hastened to assist the surgeon. Among the badly
wounded was one of my best friends, Lieutenant J. G. Cowell. When I
spoke to him he said, 'O Davy, I fear it is all up with me.' I found
that he had lost a leg just above the knee, and the doctor informed
me that his life might have been saved if he had consented to the
amputation of the limb an hour before; but when it was proposed to drop
another patient and attend to him, he replied, 'No, doctor, none of
that; fair play is a jewel. One man's life is as dear as another's; I
would not cheat any poor fellow out of his turn.' Thus died one of the
best officers and bravest men among us.
"It was wonderful to find dying men, who had hardly ever attracted
notice among the ship's company, uttering sentiments worthy of a
Washington. You might have heard in all directions, 'Don't give her
up, Logan!'--a sobriquet for Porter--'Hurrah for liberty!' and similar
expressions. A young {318}Scotchman named Bissley had one leg shot off
close to the groin. He used his handkerchief for a tourniquet, and said
to his comrades, 'I left my own country and adopted the United States,
to fight for her. I hope I have this day proved myself worthy of the
country of my adoption. I am no longer of any use to you or to her, so
good-by!' With these words, he leaned on the sill of the port and threw
himself overboard.
"Lieutenant Wilmer, who had been sent forward to let go the sheet
anchor, was knocked overboard by a shot. After the action, his little
Negro boy, Ruff, came on deck and asked me what had become of his
master, and when I imparted to him the sad news, he deliberately jumped
into the sea and was drowned.
"I went on board the _Phoebe_ about 8 A.M. on the 29th, and was ushered
into the steerage. I was so mortified at our capture that I could not
refrain from tears. While in this uncomfortable state, I was aroused
by hearing a young reefer call out, 'A prize! a prize! Ho, boys, a fine
grunter, by Jove!' I saw at once that he had under his arm a pet pig
belonging to our ship, called Murphy. I claimed the animal as my own.
'Ah,' said he, 'but you are a prisoner, and your pig also.' 'We always
respect private property,' I replied, and as I {319}had seized hold of
Murphy I determined not to let go, unless compelled by superior force.
This was fun for the oldsters, who immediately sung out, 'Go it, my
little Yankee! If you can thrash Shorty, you shall have your pig!'
'Agreed!' said I. A ring was formed, and at it we went. I soon found
that my antagonist's pugilistic education did not come up to mine. In
fact, he was no match for me, and was compelled to give up the pig. So I
took Master Murphy under my arm, feeling that I had in some degree
wiped out the disgrace of our defeat." Porter and his surviving men were
paroled, and the _Essex Junior_ was converted into a cartel, in which
they were sent home to New York. When she was within about thirty miles
of her destination, she was overhauled by a British war-vessel and
detained all night, which by the terms of the agreement with Captain
Hillyar absolved them from their parole. In the morning Captain Porter
with a few men left the ship in a small boat, unnoticed, and pulled for
shore, landing at Babylon, Long Island, about sunset. He was immediately
made a prisoner by the militia; but when he exhibited his commission,
they fired a salute of twenty-one guns and furnished a horse and cart to
carry his boat. On reaching New York, he received a grand ovation, and
as he rode through the streets the people unhitched {320}his horses
and drew the carriage themselves. Thus ended one of the most exciting,
varied, and romantic cruises ever made by a modern sailor.
On the 29th of April the American sloop-of-war _Peacock_, carrying
eighteen guns and commanded by Captain Lewis Warrington, was cruising
off the coast of Florida when she sighted the British brig-of-war
_Epervier,_ eighteen guns, convoying three merchantmen. The two
men-of-war hauled up for action, and after a battle of forty-two minutes
the English flag was struck. The _Epervier_ had lost twenty-two men
killed or wounded, her rigging was badly cut up, and there was five feet
of water in the hold, more than forty shot having entered her hull. The
_Peacock_, which was much heavier than her antagonist, had received
very little injury, and but two of her crew were wounded. The prize had
$118,000 in specie on board. Soon after this the _Peacock_ cruised in
the Bay of Biscay and along the coast of Portugal, and captured fourteen
merchantmen.
Captain Johnston Blakeley, in the _Wasp_, a sister ship to the
_Peacock_, sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., for a cruise in the chops of
the English Channel. At daylight on the 28th of June he sighted two sail
on the lee beam and one on the weather beam. Avoiding the former, he
made for the latter, which proved to be the British brig _Reindeer_,
of eighteen {321}guns. There was considerable manoeuvring for the
weather-gauge, but the Englishman succeeded in keeping it, and by three
o'clock had come within sixty yards. At that short distance she had
five shots at the Wasp, with a shifting carronade, firing round shot
and grape, before the Wasp could bring a single gun to bear on her. But
Blakeley then made a half-board, and by firing from aft forward finally
brought every gun into use. This was too heavy for the _Reindeer_, and
she ran into the _Wasp_ and attempted to board, her crew being led by
Captain Manners in person. But every attempt was repelled by the crew of
the _Wasp_, and when Captain Blakeley ordered them in turn to board the
enemy, they were on her deck and the British flag was hauled down in one
minute. The whole action had lasted but half an hour. The _Reindeer_ had
lost twenty-five killed, including her captain, and forty-two wounded;
the _Wasp_, five killed and twenty-two wounded. The upper half of the
hull of the Reindeer was a complete wreck, and she had to be burned. A
few weeks later, September 1st, the _Wasp_, after making three prizes,
discovered four sail and bore up for the most weatherly of them. Between
nine and ten o'clock at night the two ships came close together, and
broadsides were exchanged till the enemy became silent. Blakeley hailed,
and {322}was answered that she surrendered. She was the British brig
_Avon_, of eighteen guns. But before the Americans had taken possession
of her, another British man-of-war came up. The _Wasp_ made ready to
engage her; but before she could do so, two others appeared, and she
then put up her helm and ran off before the wind. It was afterward
learned that the _Avon_ had sunk, and her consort with difficulty
rescued the survivors of her crew. In the next twenty days the _Wasp_
took three prizes, and then, continuing her cruise, was never heard from
again.
One of the bloodiest sea-fights of this year took place in the harbor
of Fayal, Azores. The American privateer _General Armstrong_, carrying
fourteen guns and ninety men, commanded by Captain Samuel C. Reid, put
in there for water on the 26th of September. A few hours later, three
British war-vessels--the _Plantagenet, Carnation, and Rota_--entered
the harbor. It was a neutral port, but they cared no more for its
neutrality than Hillyar had cared for that of Valparaiso.
In the evening, under a full moon, four armed boats were sent from these
vessels to cut out the privateer. As they approached her, they were
warned off several times, but paid no attention to it, and attempted
to board. Reid then opened fire on them, and drove them off with heavy
loss. For {323}greater security, the _Armstrong_ was hauled up close to
the fort, and moored. The Governor remonstrated with Captain Van Lloyd,
commander of the English fleet; to which the captain answered that he
was determined to destroy the privateer, and if the fort protected her
he would bombard the town till not a house was left standing.
At midnight the _Armstrong_ was attacked again, this time by fourteen
launches, each carrying about fifty men. Reid promptly opened his
broadside on them, with terrible effect; yet two or three of them
succeeded in reaching the vessel, and the crew then met them with
cutlass and pistol, and scarcely a man in them was left alive. A letter
written from Fayal at the time, by an Englishman, says the officers in
charge of the boats cheered on their men with a shout of "No quarter!"
and that "the Americans fought with great firmness, but more like
bloodthirsty savages than anything else. They rushed into the boats,
sword in hand, and put every soul to death, as far as came within their
power. Several boats floated on shore, full of dead bodies."
Next morning, the _Carnation_ sailed in and engaged the _Armstrong_; but
after a short action she was badly cut up and obliged to haul off for
repairs. Several guns on the _Armstrong_ had been dismounted; and as
Captain Reid now saw that her {324}ultimate destruction was certain, he
cut away her masts, blew a hole in her bottom, and went ashore with his
men. Two of the crew had been killed, and seven wounded. The ascertained
loss of the British was one hundred and twenty killed and ninety
wounded.
After burning the abandoned wreck, Van Lloyd demanded of the Governor
that the gallant little crew he had failed to capture should be given
up to him as prisoners. This modest request was of course refused,
and Captain Reid and his men then took possession of an old convent,
declaring that they would defend themselves to the last. But they were
not molested.
The vessel that was despatched to England to take home the British
sailors wounded in this action, was not permitted to carry a single
letter from anybody. Indeed, not only this affair, says Cobbett in his
"Letters," but the loss of the _Avon_, the battle of Plattsburg,
and other actions not creditable to the English arms, were carefully
concealed from the English public. At the demand of Portugal, the
British Government apologized for the violation of neutrality; but the
owners of the _Armstrong_ never obtained any indemnity.
This was the last naval action before the declaration of peace; but as
that declaration did not imme{325}diately reach the cruisers at
sea, three others were fought. On the 15th of January, 1815, Commodore
Decatur, in the _President_, had a prolonged battle with the frigate
_Endymion_, off Long Island, and reduced her to a wreck. But two other
British cruisers came up, and he was compelled to surrender.
He had lost eighty men killed or wounded. On the 20th of February, the
_Constitution_, Captain Charles Stewart, off the coast of Portugal,
captured both the _Cyane_, of thirty-four guns, and the _Levant_, of
twenty-one, after a battle of forty minutes, in which he lost fifteen
men, and inflicted a loss of about forty. The _Levant_ was subsequently
recaptured by three English cruisers, while she was in Port Praya,
another neutral harbor. On the 23d of March, the American brig _Hornet_,
Captain James Biddle, and the British brig _Penguin_, Captain Dickenson,
being almost exactly matched in men and metal, fought a battle of
twenty-two minutes' duration, off the island of Tristan d'Acunha, at the
close of which the _Penguin_, having lost forty-two men and been badly
crippled, surrendered. Her commander was killed. The _Hornet_ had one
man killed and ten wounded. This was the last of what the London _Times_
had fallen into the habit of calling "the painful events at sea."