He was provided, in addition to his warships, with a number of barges, furnished with twenty oars apiece, and which were indispensable in following the pirates up the shallow creeks and into the shoal waters where the vessels could not go.
[Illustration: OUR FLEET IN THE BALTIC.] Captain Porter was discreet but impatient with injustice.

When one of his schooners was fired into by the Porto Rican authorities he promptly demanded an explanation, which was given.

The most important incident of his service occurred in the autumn of 1824 and is known as the "Foxardo Affair." In October of that year the storehouse of the American consul at St.
Thomas was broken into and robbed of much valuable property which there was reason to believe had been carried to the small port at the eastern end of Porto Rico known as Foxardo.

Lieutenant Platt, of the _Beagle_, anchored off the town and asked the help of the authorities in capturing the criminals and recovering the property.

The officer was treated with the grossest discourtesy.