178 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



British captain. For eight years (1815-1823) Porter was on the board of naval 

 commissioners, and then resigned. From 1824 he had charge of a fleet for sup- 

 pressing piracy hi the West Indies. Considering the nation insulted by a certain 

 incident at Porto Rico, he demanded a prompt apology, was found guilty of a 

 breach of international law, and, feeling outraged, resigned his commission. In 

 August 1826 he became commander hi chief of the Mexican navy; he served through 

 the Spanish-Mexican war and then returned to the United States. He served in 

 diplomatic posts in the Barbary States and Constantinople, where he died hi 1843. 



The traits of David Porter which were related to his achievements were: 



Love of sea. At an early age the boy displayed the restless energy which 

 ever afterwards characterized him. As he grew in years he developed a fondness 

 for a sea life. His desires were abundantly satisfied in his early career. But 

 serving on the board of navy commissioners was not to his taste. "Captain 

 Porter's restless nature would not permit him to sit quietly in an office, attending 

 to ministerial affairs. Before he had been a year on the board of commissioners 

 he began to weary of the work." 



He was hyperkinetic. As a boy he indulged in "madcap pranks," for being 

 a boy of ungovernable spirits he was always getting into scrapes which frequently 

 caused him much inconvenience. 1 "As a young naval officer his spirits never 

 flagged; he was impulsive and sometimes too severe, but his impulsiveness was 

 tempered by a generous spirit." His temper was very quick and he would flash 

 up like powder at anything he considered in the least insulting or showing a want 

 of respect towards him. While a midshipman, he was called by an abusive name 

 by the drunken officer of the deck; Porter knocked him down. It was only in 

 trifles that he lost his self-control. Under great provocation he often maintained 

 command of his temper. He was fond of practical jokes. 



There was an artistic element in David Porter. He made sketches on his 

 cruise on the Essex and some of these were published in his account of the cruise. 

 This esthetic appeal showed itself in a fondness for horses 2 that led him to pur- 

 chase some fine Arabians; also, he was a great admirer of female beauty. 3 



Obstinacy is a marked trait. In a desperate encounter on the Experiment, 

 in which the captain gave up his ship for lost, Lieutenant Porter took command 

 himself, ignoring his superior, and fought the battle to a successful issue. Off 

 Valparaiso he fought, in the Essex, two British vessels, though his maintop had 

 been carried off by a storm. Porter returned their fire "with so great effect as 

 to compel his enemies to retire for repairs; but the Phcebe, on returning to the 

 action, opened on him with her long-range guns from a point beyond his carron- 

 ades. Porter saw that his only hope now lay in the desperate chance of boarding 

 the larger of his adversaries, and with this hope bore down on her with the little 

 sail he could still carry, but the Englishmen kept steadily away, and the Essex, 

 hulled at almost every shot, became a helpless wreck, filled with dead and wounded 

 seamen." He planned to run her ashore and blow her up, but adverse winds pre- 

 vented. "Still he made another effort to board, only to subject himself to repeated 

 raking, then let go his sheet anchor to bring his broadside to bear again, only to part 

 with his hawsers in the effort, and kept up a steady cannonade until his ship was on 

 fire, his boats shot away and but 75 men out of 225 left for effective duty." "His 

 obstinate bravery won the enthusiastic admiration and respect of all his foes." 4 



1 Porter, 1875, p. 11. Ibid., p. 411. 



* Ibid., p. 408. * National Cyclopedia of American Biography, ii, p. 99. 



