Rash's Surname Index
Notes for David PORTER
PORTER, David, naval officer, was born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 1, 1780; son of Capt. David Porter, and grandson of Capt. Alexander Porter, who commanded merchant vessels sailing for New England ports, previous to the Revolutionary war. Capt. David Porter, St., commanded the sloop Delight, 1778-80, and the ship Aurora in 1780. He was captured and imprisoned in the prison-ship Jersey, New York harbor, where he found his brother Samuel and remained with him till the end, when he succeeded in escaping from the ship in a water-cask. He continued to serve in the navy until the close of the war. He was appointed sailing-master in the new navy by President Washington, and had charge of the signal station on Federal Hill, Baltimore, Md. David Porter, Jr., accompanied 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, including young Porter, refused to perform duty and were put in irons. Porter, when brought to the mast to be whipped, 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 impressed on a British man-of-war, where he received brutal treatment, but finally escaped. He was warranted midshipman, April 16, 1789, and was ordered to the frigate Constellation, Capt. Thomas Truxton, on a cruise in the West Indies, Aug. 20, 1798. On Feb. 9, 1799, Truxton met and captured the French frigate L'Insurgente, Capt. Barreault, and the prize was brought to port by Lieut. John Rogers, with Midshipman Porter second in command. Porter was promoted lieutenant, Oct. 8, 1799, and transferred to the schooner Experiment of the West India squadron, which on Jan. 1, 1800, while conveying several merchantmen, 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 Deux Amis. The prisoners on this vessel numbered ten times as many as their captors, and Porter ordered them all forward, loaded one of his small guns, and threatened to shoot the first man that crossed a prescribed line. In this manner, for three nights and four days he managed his prize, finally bringing it into the harbor of St. Kitts. Upon the outbreak of the war with Tripoli in 1802, Porter was appointed first lieutenant on board the frigate New York, and in April, 1802, while off the coast of Tripoli, he volunteered to lead an assault in small boats into the harbor. He landed in the face of a largely superior force, set fire to the boats in the harbor and returned to the squadron, but not until he was again wounded. He was transferred to the Philadelphia, Capt. Bainbridge, and on Oct. 31, 1803, was on board that vessel in the harbor of Tripoli when she ran on a sunken reef and was captured, the officers and crew being taken prisoners and confined until peace was restored. He was commissioned master-commandant, 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 oatbreak 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 Norton, 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, anchoring 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 Phoebe, 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 thirty 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 officers 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 Saturn, 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 Platt, to investigate the matter. Lieutenant Platt 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 [p.367] his men. He was ordered home, court-martialed and suspended for six months on the ground that he had exceeded his authority. This action so displeased him that he resigned his commission and entered the Mexican service as commander-in-chief of the naval forces. In 1829 he returned to the United States, and was appointed by President Jackson consul-general at Algiers. He was transferred to Constantinople as chargé d'affaires, and in 1831 was made minster resident. He is the author of: Journal of a Cruise made to the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. Frigate "Essex" in 1812-13 (2 vols., 1815), and Constantinople and its Environs (2 vols., 1835). Porter's name received six votes for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York university, in October, 1900. He died in Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, Turkey, March 3-1843. and was buried at the naval asylum, Philadelphia, Pa.
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