CHAPTER XV.
David Porter--A Clever Feat--Numerous Captures by the _Essex_--Her Remarkable Cruise in the Pacific--Her Final Capture.
David Porter was born in 1780 and died in 1842.

He came from a seafaring family, and, entering the navy at an early age, did gallant service in the war with France and Tripoli.

He was the father of David Dixon Porter, who, on account of his brilliant record in the war for the Union, was made vice-admiral in 1866 and admiral in 1870.
The elder Porter was appointed captain of the _Essex_ at the beginning of the War of 1812, and, leaving New York, started on a cruise after the British 36-gun _Thetis_, which was on her way to South America with a large amount of specie aboard.

She took several unimportant prizes, and, failing to meet the _Thetis_, turned northward and on the night of July 10, 1812, sighted a fleet of merchantmen.
The night was cloudy and dark and Porter with a great deal of cleverness pushed his way among the vessels without his identity being suspected.
He had drawn in his guns, hidden most of his men and done all he could to give the _Essex_ the appearance of being an inoffensive merchantman.
His object was to learn whether the escort was too powerful to be attacked.

He opened conversation with the captain of one of the vessels, who, unsuspicious of his identity, informed him that the fleet was carrying a thousand soldiers from Barbados to Quebec, and that the convoying vessel was the _Minerva_, a 32-gun frigate.