This decision involved waiting for the most favorable moment of wind and weather, but Porter found his hand forced on the 28th of March by a violent southerly gale which swept over the exposed bay of Valparaiso and dragged the _Essex_ from her anchorage.

One of her cables parted while the crew struggled to get sail on her.

As she drifted seaward, Porter decided to seize the emergency and take the long chance of running out to windward of the _Phoebe_ and the _Cherub_.

He therefore cut the other cable, and the _Essex_ plunged into the wind under single-reefed topsails to claw past the headland.

Just as she was about to clear it, a whistling squall carried away the maintopmast.
This accident was a grave disaster, for the disabled frigate was now unable either to regain a refuge in the bay or to win her way past the British ship.
As a last resort Captain Porter turned and ran along the coast, within pistol shot of it, far inside the three-mile limit of neutral water, and came to an anchor about three miles north of the city.