Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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AMERICA WAS YOUNG. WHILE STRUGGLING TO ESTAB- LISH ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STABILITY UNDER HER NEW CONSTITUTION, THE UNITED STATES FACED CON- TINUED THREATS FROM FRENCH NAVAL FORCES AGAINST A NEW AND THRIVING MARITIME INDUSTRY. TO PROTECT THESE INTERESTS, CONGRESS PASSED SEVERAL ACTS TO ESTABLISH A TOKEN NAVAL FORCE AND ON 30 JUNE 1798, THE ACT WHICH ENABLED ESSEX TO BE BUILT CAME INTO BEING. THIS ACT ALLOWED THE PRESIDENT TO ACCEPT VESSELS OF WAR FROM PRI- VATE CITIZENS ON THE CREDIT OF THE UNITED STATES. IN RESPONSE TO THIS ACTION, 23 CITIZENS OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS OPENED A PATRIOTIC SUBSCRIP- TION ON 17 JULY 1798 TO BUILD A VESSEL OF WAR FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AND SO IT CAME TO PASS THAT A LEGEND WAS BORN. ON 25 OCTOBER 1798, A MEETING OF THE SPONSORS OF THE FIRST ESSEX WAS HELD T0 DETERMINE THE TYPE OF VESSEL TO BE BUILT. FROM THE SALEM GAZETTE OF 26 OCTOBER 1798 CAME THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCE- MENT WHICH READ IN PART: AT A MEETING IN THIS TOWN ON TUESDAY LAST, OF THOSE GENTLEMEN WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO BUILD A SHIP FOR THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, IT WAS VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO BUILD A FRIGATE OF 32 GUNS, AND TO LOAN THE SAME TO THE GOVERNMENT ....... A MONTH LATER, THE FRIGATE'S BUILDER, ENOCH BRIGGS, ADVERTISED FOR SHIPBUILDING MATERIALS IN A RINGING APPEAL: TAKE NOTICE! YE SONS OF FREE- DOM! STEP FORTH AND GIVE YOUR ASSISTANCE IN BUILDING THE FRIGATE TO OPPOSE FRENCH INSOLENCE AND PIRACY! LET EVERY MAN IN POSSESSION OF A WHITE OAK TREE FEEL AMBITIOUS TO BE FOREMOST IN HURRYING DOWN THE TIMBER TO SALEM .... WHERE NOBLE STRUCTURE IS TO BE FABRICATED TO MAIN- TAIN YOUR RIGHTS UPON THE SEAS AND MAKE THE NAME OF AMERICA RESPECTED AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD! YOUR LARGEST AND LONGEST TREES ARE WANTED ...... FOUR TREES ARE WANTED FOR THE KEEL, WHICH ALTOGETHER WILL MEASURE 146 FEET IN LENGTH, AND HEW 16 INCHES SQUARE. PLEASE CALL ON THE SUBSCRIBER, WHO ...... WILL PAY THE READY CASH . THE FRIGATE WAS LAUNCHED ON 30 SEPTEMBER 1799, BEFORE A CROWD OF 12,000 PEOPLE. THE EXPECTED WAR WITH FRANCE DID NOT MATERIALIZE, BUT IN THE WAR OF 1812 THE FIRST ESSEX COMPILED A RECORD OF BATTLE UNEQUALED BY ANY OTHER MAN-OF-WAR AND BY THE CLOSE OF 1813, ESSEX WAS THE ONLY VESSEL OF WORTH TO BE OPERATING: ALL OTHERS HAVING BEEN CAPTURED, DAMAGED, OR SUNK. OF WOODEN SHIPS 3, y. , , U-. V, . , , . V, . f , X, ' ..,f' - 1 - f K , ! 1 . ff XX A fix y . 1 X 1' ,121 ,Z I 5. m-ascii:

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A LEGEND IS BORN

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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.