Take Command, Captain Farragut! by Peter Roop

Author:Peter Roop
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504010177
Publisher: Open Road Media

Papa, I must admit, I cried myself to sleep that night, for my name was not among them.

What more must I do, I wondered, to prove my mettle?

My time would come, dear father, but not fast enough for me.

Tuesday, April 12, 1814—Day Fifteen of Our Captivity

I am up with the sun this morning. As I gaze around Valparaíso Bay, I am reminded of when we first reached these shores.

Finally we had rounded the dreadful Cape Horn and turned north into the Pacific. Despite the hardships, our spirits rose once again, knowing we had accomplished something no other United States warship had ever done! Now we must find English ships to capture. Before that, however, we had to refit at Valparaíso.

Our greeting from the Chileans was warm and wonderful. They had no love of the English themselves. I joined Captain Porter and the other officers on a round of gala parties and dances in our honor.

When the Essex was resupplied and seaworthy, we sailed again in search of English ships. Unaware of our presence, the English were not prepared. We easily captured two vessels, the Georgiana and the Policy.

After their capture Captain Porter congratulated us (I was with Lieutenant Downes when we boarded the Georgiana). He said “Fortune has at length smiled upon us, because we deserved her smiles. The first time she enabled us to display FREE TRADE AND SAILORS’ RIGHTS in these waters, she put in our possession near a half million dollars’ worth of the enemy’s property. We will yet render the name Essex as terrible to the enemy as that of any other vessel!”

And we did. We captured vessel after vessel.

Most of the ships we captured did not fight us, for they were whaling ships. At first disappointed (for I wished to battle each ship), I came to realize the value of what we were doing. Many of the ships were sent to Valparaíso to be sold as prizes. The money thus gained aided our war effort. The supplies we took off each ship kept us in good stead.

Three of the ships we renamed and they became our companions. Lieutenant Downes, second in command to Captain Porter, captained the Essex Junior. Where once we had been only one ship, now we were a squadron.

Each time a ship was taken, Captain Porter assigned the highest ranking officer to her as acting captain. Each night before I slept I counted the officers ahead of me—ten midshipmen plus higher officers. Even as quickly as we captured ships, it would be months before all eighteen were taken and I was made a captain.

Papa, my captain’s sword came much sooner than I expected or had even dreamed of.

Before I relate that, however, I must tell you the story of the Battle of the Galápagos Islands.

Thursday, April 14, 1814—Day Sixteen of Our Captivity

This morning, heavy rains fall and the wind whips across the bay. The rain had dampened our spirits somewhat, but I laugh out loud when I think of the fearsome Battle of the Galápagos (as the men now call it).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.