Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 10 text:

OF IRON SHIPS QQ' X f-4m.... ' .

Page 9 text:

R 1 l 1 i 1 E a PHOEBE ATTACKS ESSEX VALPARAISO, CHILE 28 MARCH 1814 ..-.- --...I I l ESSEX WAS A LEGEND IN HER OWN DAY ....... A LEG- END THAT DID NOT GO UNNOTICED BY THE BRITISH WHO HAD NO LESS THAN TWO SQUADRONS, TOTALING SEVEN SHIPS, SEARCHING FOR THIS LITTLE, BUT MIGHTY FRIG- ATE. ESSEX WAS DISCOVERED BY THE BRITISH SHIPS PHOEBE, CHERUB, AND RACOON WHILE AT ANCHOR IN THE HAR- BOR AT VALPARAISO, CHILE. THE ENGLISH SHIPS THAT WERE TO D0 BATTLE, PHOEBE AND CHERUB, TOTALED EIGHTY-ONE GUNS AND FIVE HUNDRED MEN. ESSEX HAD FORTY-SIX GUNS AND TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE MEN. ON 28 MARCH 1814, AFTER A SIX-WEEK BLOCADE OF THE HARBOR, ESSEX TRIED TO BREAK OUT DURING A HEAVY SEA SQUALL ONLY TO BE DISMASTED. THWARTED IN HIS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE, CAPTAIN DAVID D. PORTER STEERED ESSEX TO A COVE NEAR THE HARBOR. DISREGARDING ALL INTERNATIONAL LAWS OF THE NEU- TRALITY OF THE COVE, BRITISH COMMODORE HILLYAR ORDERED HIS HAND-PICKED GUN CREWS TO COMMENCE FIRING UPON THE CRIPPLED ESSEX, WHICH HAD STRUCK A REEF AND WAS NOW AGROUND. PORTER RETALIATED BY ORDERING HIS CREW TO ANSWER THEIR VOLLEY. COMMODORE HILLYAR, COGNIZANT OF ESSEX'S SHORT RANGE GUNS, SOON WITHDREW HIS SHIPS TO A POINT BEYOND THEIR RANGE. THE SLAUGHTER ON BOARD SHIP BECAME HORRIBLE AS THE ESSEX WAS RAKED BY THE BRITISH VOLLEYS. FRUSTRATED BEYOND THE SCOPE OF HUMAN ENDURANCE, PORTER, AT TWENTY MINUTES PAST SIX IN THE EVENING, TWO HOURS AND TWENTY- FIVE MINUTES AFTER THE DESPERATE AND REMARK- ABLE STRUGGLE BEGAN, GAVE ORDERS TO STRIKE THE NATIONAL ENSIGN. ESSEX FINALLY SURRENDERED AFTER LOSING, BY DEATHS OR INJURIES, OVER SEVENTY- FIVE PERCENT OF HER COMPLEMENT. TEN MINUTES LATER, THE BRITISH FINALLY DISCONTINUED THEIR IN- CESSANT BOMBARDMENT, AND SHOWED QUARTER TO ESSEX.

Page 11 text:

Sr ' , ... ML fw TRANSITION - STEAM AND SAIL AND LIVE SHE DID ........ THE THIRD VESSEL TO AMEND THE LEGEND OF ESSEX WAS COMMISSIONED ON 9 OCTOBER 1876 AT THE BOSTON NAVAL SHIPYARD. A CORVETTE OF THE LINE, SHE HAD THE DISTINCTION OF BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN STEAM AND SAIL DURING THIS CRUCIAL TRANSITIONARY PERIOD OF TIME. JUST AS TODAY, NEW INVENTIONS WERE FROWNED UPON, SCOFFED AT - NONE THE LESS, THERE WERE THOSE WITH FAITH AND FORESIGHT TOWARD THE FUTURE OF A RAPIDLY GROWING COUNTRY. CONSEQUENTLY ESSEX WAS, IN A WAY, FORTUNATE. SHE HAD BEEN DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO MAKE USE OF EITHER MEANS OF PROPULSION AND, ALTHOUGH UNKNOWN BY HER CREW, ESSEX WAS T0 OUTLIVE EITHER OF HER FOREBEARERS. PERHAPS NOT AS GLORIOUSLY, BUT NONETHELESS CON- TRIBUTING HIGHLY AND POSING INVALUABLE SERVICE TO HER COUNTRY. ESSEX RETIRED ON 27 OCTOBER 1930, AFTER FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE TO HER COUN- TRY, DURING WHICH TIME THE TITLE OF AMBASSADOR OF PEACE FIRST ETCHED ITSELF INTO THE LEGEND THAT IS ESSEX. THAT LEGEND WAS NOT TO REST, HOW- EVER, AS THE NAME WOULD AGAIN APPEAR ON, AND EVEN HEAD, THE NAVY'S LIST OF SHIPS - AND THE NEW WOULD DWARF THE OLD AS THE PAST BECAME PRO- LOGUE TO THE FUTURE.