On the Ocean 113 



and on her spar-deck carried 24-pound carronades 

 instead of 32*5, and, moreover, had fifty men less 

 than the Essex, which had about 270 men this 

 cruise ; on the other hand, her main-deck was armed 

 with long I2's, so that it is hard to say whether she 

 did right or not in refusing to fight. She was of the 

 same force as the Southampton, whose captain. Sir 

 James Lucas Yeo, subsequently challenged Porter, 

 but never appointed a meeting-place. In the event 

 of a meeting, the advantage, in ships of such radical 

 ly different armaments, would have been with that 

 captain who succeeded in outmanoeuvring the other 

 and in making the fight come off at the distance best 

 suited to himself. At long range either the Minerva 

 or Southampton would possess an immense superi 

 ority; but if Porter could have contrived to run up 

 within a couple of hundred yards, or still better, to 

 board, his superiority in weight of metal and num 

 ber of men would have enabled him to carry either 

 of them. Porter's crew was better trained for 

 boarding than almost any other American com 

 mander's; and probably none of the British frigates 

 on the American station, except the Shannon and 

 Tcnedos, would have stood a chance with the Essex 

 in a hand-to-hand struggle. Among her youngest 

 midshipmen was one, by name David Glasgow 

 Farragut, then but thirteen years old, who after 

 ward became the first and greatest admiral of the 

 United States. His own words on this point will 

 be read with interest. "Every day," he says, 10 "the 



10 "Life of Farragut" (embodying his journal and letters), 

 p. 31. By his son, Loyall Farragut, New York, 1879. 



