PORTER
PORTER
the new navy by President Washington, and
liad charge of the signal station on Federal
Hill. Hallinu.re. Md. David Porter, Jr., ac-
ct)nii»anied his father to sea in the West India
trading ship Eliza in 1796, and on his second
voyage the crew of the brig were impressed on
board a British frigate, where most of them, in-
cluding young Porter, refused to perform duty
and were i)ut in irons. Porter, when brought to
the mast to be wliipped, broke away from his
captors, jumped overboard and swam to a Danish
brig, bound for Europe. He re-shipped on another
foreign vessel bound for the United States, was
again impre.sseil on a British man-of-war, where
he received brutal treatment, but finally escaped.
He was warranted midshipman, April 16, lT8i),
and was ordered to the frigate Constellation,
Capt. Thomas Truxton, on a cruise in tlie W^est
Indies, Aug. -JO, 1798. On Feb. 9, 1799, Truxton
met and captured the French frigate Ulnsur-
gente, Capt. Barreault. and the prize was brought
to jxjrt by Lieut. John Rogers, with ^Midshipman
Porter second in command. Porter was pro-
moted lieutenant, Oct. 8, 1799. and transferred to
the schooner Experiment of the West India
squadron, wiiicli on Jan. 1, 1800, while convoying
several mercliantmen, was becalmed off Santo
Domingo and attacked by ten picaroon barges.
Porter, who worked the Experiment during the
entire engagement and was severely wounded,
effected the escape of the fleet. Subsequently,
with a boat and four men, he took possession of
the prize Denx Amis. The prisoners on this
vessel numbered ten times as many as their
captors, and Porter ordered tliem all forward,
loaded one of his small guns, and threatened to
shoot the first man that crossed a prescribed
line. In thi.s manner, for three nights and four
days lie managed his prize, finally bringing it
into the harbor of St. Kitts. Upon the outbreak
of tiie war with Tripoli in 1802, Porter was ap-
pointed first lieutenant on board the frigate Neio
York, and in April, 1.S02, while otl the coast of
TriiKjli, he volunteered to lead an assault in small
boats into the harlx>r. He landed in the face of
a largely sujierior force, set fire to the boats in
the harlKjr and returned to the squadron, but
not until he was again wounded. He was trans-
ferred to the Pkilddelphid, Capt. Bainbridge, and
on Oct. 31. IHO:}, was on lx)ard that vessel in the
harbor of Tripoli when she ran on a sunken reef
and was captured, tlie officers and crew being
taken prisoners an<l confined until peace was
restored. He was commissioned master-com-
mandant, April 22. 1806. On March 10, 1808, he
was married to Evelina, daughter of William
Anderson of Chester. Pa. He commanded the
naval forces at New Orleans, and captured three
French privateers anchored in the Mississippi
river. In 1811 he was given command of the
frigate Essex, and upon the outbreak of the war
of 1812 was promoted captain, and succeeded in
capturing several prizes, including a transport
with 150 men, and the sloop-of-war Alert, the first
English ship of the line captured in the war. On
Dec. 11, 1812, he captured the British packet Nor-
ton, with specie amounting to $55,000, and on Dec.
29, 1812, the schooner Elizabeth. He entered the
port of Valparaiso, S.A., where he learned that
Peru had sent out cruisers against the Americans.
After refitting his ship he set sail, and on March
25, 1812, captured the Peruvian privateer Nereyda,
■which had on board the crews of two American
whalers, the Barclay and Walker. He cruised
in the Pacific for ten months, capturing many
British whalers, including the Montezuma,
Georgiana and Policy, which were attached to
the Essex and refitted. Porter now sailed with
his fleet to the Marquesas Islands to refit, anchor-
ing in the bay of Nukohwah, which he named
Massachusetts Bay, and after subduing the
natives of the island, he took possession in the
name of the United States. On Feb. 3, 1814,
in company with the Essex, Jr. (formerly the
Georgiana), the Essex arrived at Valparaiso, and
on Feb. 8, the British frigate Phcebe, Capt. James
Hillyer, with her consort the Cherub, arrived
and anchored near the Essex. The neutrality of
the port was not violated, and on March 28, 1814,
the Essex attempted to escape from the port.
She was immediately attacked by the Phoebe and
Cherub, and after an engagement that lasted for
two hours and tliirty minutes, the Essex was
reduced to a wreck and Porter struck his colors,
fifty-eight of his crew being killed and sixty-six
wounded. Soon after the capture. Porter made
an agreement with Hillyer to disarm the Essex,
Jr., if allowed to proceed with his surviving
officeri and crew to the United States. He sailed,
April 27, 1814, arriving off Sandy Hook, N.Y.,
July 5, 1814, where he fell in with the British
ship Satur7i, Captain Nash, and was detained,
Captain Nash doubting the authority of Captain
Hillyer to issue papers of safe conduct. Porter
escaped, July 6, 1814, and reached Babylon, L.I.
The Essex, Jr., was condemned and sold, and he
was appointed commissioner of the navy, serving,
1815-23. In 1823, in charge of an expedition to
suppress the West Indian pirates, he sailed to the
Gulf and established a naval depot at Key West.
In October, 1824, being informed of the robbery
of an American mercantile house in St. Thomas,
he dispatched the Beagle, Lieutenant Piatt, to
investigate the matter. Lieutenant Piatt was
badly treated by the civil authorities and Porter,
considering it an insult to the American flag,
made a land attack on Foxordo, secured an
apology from the authorities and then removed
