cruises

1812. along the southern coast of the United States, in the July. hope of falling in with the Essex, the nature of whose South- armament sir James fully knew. The Southampton ampton had 212 men and boys, and, in reference to the in quality of her crew, was well manned. All that her search captain and his officers wanted was the weatherEssex. gage, to enable the Southampton to choose her distance, and bring her long 12s into fair competition with her opponents short 32s; or else to afford the british seamen an opportunity of getting on board the american ship early in the action, and of deciding the contest by their favourite mode, a hand-to-hand struggle.

of

Essex cap

tures a

port

It was on the 3d of July that the Essex sailed from New-York. On the 11th, at 2 A. M., in latitude, by her reckoning, 33°, longitude 66°, the Essex fell in from a with a small convoy of seven british transports, going Convoy from Barbadoes to Quebec, under the protection of thepro- the british 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Minerva, (same tection force as Southampton,) captain Richard Hawkins, Mi- and succeeded in cutting off the rearmost vessel, a frigate, brig, No. 299, having on board 197 soldiers. At

under

of the

nerva

Boast.

ing of

4 A. M., observing a strange ship very close to one of the brigs of her convoy, the Minerva wore to reconnoitre the intruder. Finding, however, after a while, that, by continuing in chase of the american frigate and her newly-made prize, he would run the risk of losing the remaining six vessels of his convoy, captain Hawkins left the brig (captured, by the Minerva's reckoning, in latitude 34° 3′ north, longitude 66° 39′ west) in the quiet possession of the Essex, and resumed his course towards Quebec.

Captain Porter was discreet, as well as shrewd, captain enough to chuckle at this; and, disarming and parolPorter ing the soldiers, and ransoming the vessel, he allowed subject the latter to proceed with the intelligence of the

on the

outrage she had suffered. He of course obtained from his prize the name of the convoying frigate, whose protection was of so much use to her, and by the first opportunity wrote home an account of his exploit; concluding with the, as applied to a british

ship, most galling words: "We endeavoured to 1812. bring the frigate to action, but did not succeed." Aug. This letter appeared in several english, as well as american newspapers; but we but we can find no expla nation of the circumstance out of which it originated. Had captain Porter really "endeavoured" to bring the Minerva to action, we do not see what could have prevented the Essex, with her decided superiority of sailing, from getting alongside of her. But no such thought, we are sure, entered the head of captain Porter. This will be clear to all, as we proceed in our analysis of that gentleman's claim, or claims rather, for they are numerous, to wear the laurel.

falls in

with

sloop

On the 13th of August, but in what spot off the Essex american coast nowhere appears, the Essex fell in with the british 16-gun ship-sloop Alert, captain Alert Thomas Lamb Poulden Laugharne. The ship, thus of war. raised to the dignity of a sloop of war, had, eight years before, carried coals from Newcastle to London. In the year 1804 twelve of these craft were purchased for men of war; and the Oxford collier became the Alert sloop, fitted with 18-pounder carronades, the highest caliber she would bear. Had she been a little smaller, and rigged with two masts instead of three, the Alert would have been a gun-brig; but her unfortunate mizenmast exalted her above scores of vessels, any one of whom, among the two classes next below her in our abstracts, except perhaps the Alacrity, would have gloried in having such a ship to contend with: nay, some of the Alacrity's fine class would not have declined a combat with two such opponents. By the end of the year 1811, ten of these choice men of war had either been broken up, or converted to peaceable harbour-ships. But there were two that yet remained; and, as if it was supposed that they in reality possessed the qualities of which their names were significant, the Avenger and Alert sailed for the station of North America,

1812. the very month before the United States declared Aug. war against Great Britain.

En- When the american frigate Essex, as we have gages stated, fell in with the Alert, the latter was in search and of the Hornet; such another sloop of war as the tures Little-Belt or Bonne-Citoyenne, and who of course her. would, or at least ought to, have captured both the

cap

Gal

of capt.

arne

ly se

Alert and Avenger, had she encountered them together. Either mistaking the Essex for what she was not, or aiming at a still higher flight than the Hornet, the Alert bore down upon the former's weather quarter, and opened her puny fire. In a quarter of an hour, the ci-devant collier had seven feet water in her hold, three of her men wounded, and her colours down, and had neither hurt a man, nor done any other injury, on board the Essex.

The conspicuous gallantry of captain Laugharne lantry, entitled him to a better ship than the Alert, a better Laugh- first lieutenant than Andrew Duncan, who gave him not no support, and a better crew than his officers and proper- men, who, except Johanson Clering the master, and conded William Haggarty the purser, went aft to request their captain to strike the colours. Captain Porter disarmed his fine prize, and sent her with the prisoners, 86 in number, as a cartel, to St.-John's, Newfoundland; where, on the 8th of October, captain Laugharne and his officers and men were tried Court- for the loss of their ship. The captain, master, and on the purser were most honourably acquitted; the first officers lieutenant was dismissed the service; and the re

martial

&c.

maining officers and crew obtained, along with their acquittal, the marked disapprobation of the court. Alert On her return to a port in the United States, being block found unfit for a cruiser, the Alert, after the lapse ship. of some months, was fitted as a store-ship. The

made a

moment, however, that her sails were unfurled, her creeping, collier-like pace betrayed her origin, and sent back the Alert to New-York, to grace the harbour as a block-ship, and to be pointed out

to the citizens as one of the national trophies of 1812. the war.

Aug.

falls in

of

avoids

As captain Porter was a great favourite at the city of Washington, Mr. Clark, who was patronised by all the great men there, could do no less than insert in his book any little tale which the former might wish to see recorded in the naval history of his country. "On the 30th of August," says one of those tales, Essex "the Essex being in latitude 36° north, longitude with a 62° west, a british frigate was discovered standing british towards her, under a press of sail. Porter stood war, for her under easy sail, with his ship prepared for that action; and, apprehensive that she might not find her. the Essex during the night, he hoisted a light. At 9, the british vessel made a signal: it consisted of two flashes and a blue light. She was then, apparently, about four miles distant. Porter stood for the point where she was seen until midnight, when, perceiving nothing of her, he concluded it would be best to heave to for her until morning, concluding she had done the same; but, to his great surprise, and the mortification of his officers and crew, she was no longer in sight. Captain Porter thought it to be not unlikely, that this vessel was the Acasta, of 50 guns, sent out, accompanied by the Ringdove, of 22, to cruise for the Essex."*

It did not perhaps occur to Mr. Clark, that ships usually carry log-books, in which are entered every day's proceedings, with the latitude, longitude, &c.; and that these can be referred to, in case the false assertions of any historian, or paragraph-writer, or american captain, may be worth the trouble of disproving. Considering what a formidable man captain Capt. Porter was, nothing less than the Acasta, "of 50 guns," Porter and Ringdove," of 22," could be sent out to cruise for misthe Essex. Unfortunately for the fame of the cap- take tain of the Essex, on the 30th of August, 1812, subject the day mentioned, the Acasta was cruising in the

* Clark's Naval History of the United States, vol. i. p. 180.VOL. VI.

K

modest

on the

1812. latitude of 43° north, longitude 65° 16′ west; and the Sept. Ringdove, whose force, by the by, was only 18 guns, was lying at an anchor in a harbour of the island of St.-Thomas. It was certainly very modest of captain Porter, to "think it not unlikely," that one of the finest 18-pounder frigates in the british navy, accompanied too by a sloop of war, would be sent out to "cruise for the Essex." The fact is, the ship, which captain Porter fell in with, was the 18gun sloop Rattler, captain Alexander Gordon; and who, we believe, not considering himself a match for the american frigate, rather avoided than sought an engagement with her.

Essex falls in

with the Shan. non.

Is

but es

On the 4th of September, at noon, in latitude 39° 11' north, longitude 70° 22′, the Essex, then having under her convoy the american merchant ship Minerva, fell in with " two ships of war" to the southward and westward. These two "ships of war," as captain Porter declared them to be,* were the british 38-gun frigate Shannon, captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke, and the merchant ship Planter, which she had just recaptured from the Americans. The Shannon, as may be supposed, was soon under all sail in chase; but in a little time the wind, which had been blowing right aft, headed the ship flat aback. With the wind thus suddenly changed in her favour, the Essex, keeping the Minerva close astern of her, bore down, as if to bring the Shannon to action; but at 4h. 30 m. P. M., just as she had got within about 10 miles of the british frigate, the Essex suddenly hauled up, and, after making some private signals, crowded sail to get away; leaving the poor merchant ship, whom she had thus led into danger, to shift for herself.

The Shannon continued chasing to-windward, chased under a press of canvass, until dark; when, losing capes. sight of the Essex, the former tacked and seized the merchant ship. Captain Broke intended to burn

* Clark's Naval History of the United States, vol. i. p, 180,