The Shining Sea (15 page)

Midshipman Clarke, in the meantime, was having problems. He hadn't been aboard the
Elizabeth
long before her leaks worsened, and he was forced to put into Rio after all. The Portuguese authorities refused him sanctuary, however, and he had to burn the ship. He was now stranded in a neutral port that was under effective British control. Clarke stayed clear of Dixon, never providing him information, but word of the
Elizabeth
's distress and return to Rio spread, and the admiral now knew there was an American raider operating offshore. It took Clarke and his men a year to get home.

On January 2, 1813, Porter stopped a Portuguese brig-of war and finally received news of Bainbridge and Lawrence. The brig had been at Bahia nine days earlier and had put into the harbor at St. Salvador, where she had seen the
Bonne Citoyenne
. The brig's skipper told Porter that when
he sortied from the harbor, he was brought to by a big frigate and a sloop of war flying British colors. Porter assumed they were the
Constitution
and the
Hornet
. He had already learned that only three British men-of-war were in this part of South America—the 74-gun
Montague
in Rio; the 32-gun
Nereus
in the Rio de la Plata estuary off Buenos Aires; and the 20-gun
Bonne Citoyenne
at St. Salvador. The following day, January 3, Porter stopped another Portuguese brig, which had also seen two American warships ten days earlier off Bahia.

Convinced now that Bainbridge and Lawrence would remain in the area of St. Salvador to capture the
Bonne Citoyenne
when she sortied, Porter decided to join them. He had learned from the
Elizabeth
's crew that Admiral Dixon was expecting reinforcements at Rio, which meant that the
Essex
could not remain where she was for long. Before Porter could move, however, he needed to make essential repairs on the ship before they got completely out of control. The main topmast trestletrees and the mizzen topmast trestletrees had both carried away and had to be replaced before the topmasts and topgallant masts on the main and mizzen masts, with all their rigging, came tumbling down. The temporary replacements were about to give way. Porter already had new trestletrees made up so that the work could be accomplished in one long day.

A shift in the wind forced Porter to delay his plan to sail north and meet Bainbridge and Lawrence. A fresh gale had begun blowing from the north, forcing him to sail east. He kept an eye out for the small convoy he had been chasing before and waited for the wind to change. The
Essex
was in latitude 22° 13' 17” south. For six days, from January 6 to 12, however, the wind did not change; it continued blowing obstinately from the north, forcing Porter to remain on his present course until it shifted. The continuously adverse winds caused him to rethink his plan to travel north. Since his supplies were running low, he decided to stand south instead of north, and make for either St. Sebastian Island or St. Catherine's, depending on the wind. It was a critical decision. If he stood south, he would dramatically lessen his chance to rendezvous with the
Constitution
and the
Hornet
.

P
ORTER HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING THAT MEETING
B
AINBRIDGE
and Lawrence was already impossible. On December 29, Bainbridge, while
cruising off the Bahia coast, had fallen in with the British warship of his dreams. At nine that morning the
Constitution
was sailing along the coast just south of St. Salvador when one of her lookouts spotted two sails well off the weather bow. The
Constitution
was alone. Bainbridge had left Lawrence and the
Hornet
just outside the harbor at St. Salvador to blockade the
Bonne Citoyenne
, which Bainbridge had discovered was carrying 500,000 pounds sterling in specie. Lawrence could not attack her while she was in a neutral port, but he was doing everything he could to entice her out.

An hour later, at ten o'clock, Bainbridge saw the two strangers split up. One steered for St. Salvador, but the other sailed toward the
Constitution
. She was the formidable 38-gun British frigate
Java
, and what ensued that afternoon was one of the greatest naval battles in American history. Bainbridge was up against Henry Lambert, a veteran captain with a ship that was markedly faster than the
Constitution
, which gave her an important edge. Of course, “Old Ironsides” had her strengths as well—a more powerful battery, a skipper with an overwhelming need to win, and the remarkable hands that Isaac Hull had trained. They were far more experienced than Lambert's men, a hundred of who were recently impressed.

The gruesome battle went on all afternoon. It ended at 5:30 with the
Java
a complete wreck, wallowing in the sea with all her masts down, her colors struck. Her gallant first lieutenant, Henry Chads, had the baleful task of surrendering. Henry Lambert was below, mortally wounded. A sharpshooter, standing in one of the
Constitution
's tops, had put a musket ball in his chest. The rest of the
Java
's crew had suffered mightily as well. Fifty-seven out of 426 were dead and eighty-three wounded. Losses on the
Constitution
were far less. Nine out of 475 were dead and twenty-six wounded, including Bainbridge. Despite the carnage and his own wounds, however, he was more elated than at any time in his life. He had finally redeemed himself, finally wiped away the stain of the
Philadelphia
and the other disappointments in his career. He could now hold his head up among his peers and countrymen.

Bainbridge dearly wanted to bring the
Java
home in triumph, but that was not to be. She was too far gone and had to be destroyed. After removing her crew and burning her, he returned to St. Salvador and released hundreds of prisoners on parole. He then repaired the
Constitution
, but
the damages were so extensive that he could not continue his cruise, meet Porter, and proceed to St. Helena. Getting the wounded ship back to America—preferably to her homeport of Boston—would be difficult enough. She would have to run past whatever blockade the British had in place along the east coast.

Bainbridge also had to think about Lawrence and the
Hornet
. He did not know what had happened to them. He worried that Admiral Dixon and the
Montague
might have captured them. When Bainbridge went back to St. Salvador, he could see that Lawrence wasn't there, and he soon discovered that the
Montague
had made a surprise appearance on December 24. Fortunately, Lawrence, who at the time was still blockading the harbor, spotted the
Montague
in the nick of time and ran into the neutral port for protection. During the night he took Dixon by surprise and ran the
Hornet
to the southward out of the harbor.

Once safely away, Lawrence decided against attempting a rendezvous with Porter or Bainbridge at Cape Frio. Instead, he traveled home, which turned out to be a fortunate choice. On the way he captured the 10-gun British brig
Resolution
, and then defeated and sank the 18-gun British war-brig
Peacock
. Three of Lawrence's men were drowned trying to save the crew of the
Peacock
, and many more were saved only by luck as she went down. A heavy sea was running at the time. The American brig
Hunter
out of Portland Maine had been recently captured by the
Peacock
, and Lawrence recaptured her as well. The
Peacock
was one of the finest vessels of her class in the British navy. Afterward, he sailed home with a huge load of prisoners, and a ship that was badly in need of repairs and dangerously low on provisions. Contributing to his load of prisoners were men from the British merchantman
Ellen,
which he had taken outside St. Salvador before Admiral Dixon and the
Montague
arrived. On the way back to the United States Lawrence managed to avoid the British blockade and put into Homes Hole in Martha's Vineyard on March 19, 1813. He was hailed as a great hero around the country, just as Bainbridge was.

The triumphs of Bainbridge and Lawrence were two in a string of six blue-water victories that the much-abused American navy achieved in the opening eight months of the war. The unexpected triumphs stunned London and invigorated President Madison, whose strategy for winning the war was otherwise in shambles. The invasion of Canada continued to be
stymied, and Napoleon Bonaparte, whom the president was counting on so heavily, had been badly defeated in Russia, taking the pressure off London to end the American war quickly.

The
Essex
's triumph over the
Alert
was the first of these remarkable naval victories. Porter had not heard of the others, of course, except for the
Constitution
's back in August of 1812. Nor did he know yet that his dream of being free to pursue his own path to glory was now a reality. The victories of Bainbridge and Lawrence, and their return home had liberated him, given him the opportunity he had craved for so long.

At the moment, Porter had no inkling of how his fortunes had changed. More mundane matters occupied his mind. The
Essex
was still patrolling off Rio and badly in need of water, wood, and salt; and her crew needed refreshment. Since the
Essex
men had departed the United States, they had been on two-thirds allowance of salt provisions, half allowance of bread, and a full allowance of rum, which was now running dangerously low.

Rum was a particular problem that was much on Porter's mind. He did not dare prohibit its consumption, but it was running so low that he was forced to reduce the daily allowance, which caused the entire crew to balk. The men wanted their grog now, and if it gave out later, they promised to live without it. They declared that if they did not receive their full allowance, they would not take any at all. Porter had his mind made up, however, and would not give in. He called their bluff by declaring that the grog tub would be overturned fifteen minutes after the crew was called to grog. Fear of losing all their allowance led every man to hasten to the tub at the appointed time and the crisis passed.

B
AINBRIDGE HAD LISTED THE ISLANDS OF
S
T.
S
EBASTIAN AND
St. Catherine's as possible rendezvous points, and Porter felt that he had to make for one of them right away.
“With my water and provisions getting short, and feeling apprehensive of the scurvy,” he wrote later to Bainbridge, “I determined to put into port, and as I had certain intelligence that the British Admiral [Dixon] had sailed from Rio on the 5th of January in pursuit of us I considered it advisable to go to a place where there would be the least likelihood of his getting intelligence of me in a short time, and therefore proceeded to St. Catherine's.”

St. Sebastian Island was only two hundred miles south of Rio (a day's run) while St. Catharine's was five hundred, and for that reason a much safer place to put in. St. Catharine's was one of the more congenial spots along the South American coast, the usual stopping place for American whalers, sealers, and privateers.

On the way to St. Catharine's, Porter distributed a portion of the prize money he had taken from the
Nocton
. He wanted the men to have enough cash to purchase what they needed when they reached the island. He had misread his men, however. Instead of being saved for St. Catharine's, the new money ignited a bout of gambling. He put a quick stop to that by punishing anyone asking for or paying a gambling debt, and by giving monies collected to any informer without revealing his name. The gaming ended.

On January 18, Porter spoke to the captain of a Portuguese vessel recently out of Rio. The movements of the British squadron were uppermost in his mind, and he was told that the
Montague
had sailed on January 6 to search for Bainbridge and Lawrence. Actually, the
Montague
had sailed long before January 6, but Porter had no way of knowing that. He believed that more warships were coming to Dixon from England, and guessed that while the
Montague
might have sailed north to St. Salvador, the admiral could have remained at Rio to await those reinforcements. If so, Porter thought Dixon might send one or two of the recently arrived warships to trap him at St. Catharine's. In fact, two of Dixon's warships, the 24-gun
Cherub
(Thomas Tucker) and the 18-gun
Racoon
(William Black), had left Rio while Dixon was away, and searched to the southward for the
Essex
, but could not find her.

Porter was worried that Dixon might stumble on him. So he decided that, no matter how strong the temptation to stay in such an agreeable place as St. Catherine's, he would not remain there any longer than he had to. On January 19 he made the island, bearing southwest, close to the Brazilian coast. He stood for her, and by eight o'clock that evening he was twelve miles away and laid off for the night. In the morning he ran in with light winds to within two and a half miles of the principal fortification and dropped anchor. As soon as he did, a swarm of bumboats rushed to the ship's side with food for sale in small quantities. Regrettably, the prices
were outrageously high. Porter discouraged the officers and men from buying anything, but he did not forbid it.

Lieutenant Downes went ashore to establish relations with the Portuguese authorities, and received a warm welcome. Obtaining water was Porter's first priority. Even though the government cooperated, the weather at St. Catherine's was squally with heavy rains, which complicated all the provisioning. The ship had to be moved in order to reach the best watering place. Once his guide led him to it, however, Porter had the
Essex
supplied with water in two and a half days. He also put on board all the wood he needed, and rum, which he had no problem buying at a decent price. But food was another matter. He continued to have a difficult time with the ubiquitous bumboats. They were always about, selling fowl, yams, hogs, plantains, turkeys, watermelons, and onions at ridiculously inflated prices. Porter got so annoyed watching his crew being cheated that he finally intervened and established strict rules for trading. Unfortunately, he found that obtaining the same quantity or quality of goods on shore was impossible because the bumboat men had a corner on the market.