206 Naval War of 1812 



On March 2Oth the Essex captured the Peruvian 

 corsair Nereyda, 16, hove her guns and small arms 

 overboard, and sent her into port. She made the 

 island of San Gallan, looked into Callao, and thence 

 went to the Gallipagos, getting everything she 

 wanted from her prizes. Then she went to Tumbez, 

 and returned to the Gallipagos; thence to the Mar 

 quesas, and finally back to Valparaiso again. By 

 this year's campaign in the Pacific, Captain Porter 

 had saved all our ships in those waters, had not cost 

 the government a dollar, living purely on the enemy, 

 and had taken from him nearly 4,000 tons of ship 

 ping and 400 men, completely breaking up his whal 

 ing trade in the South Pacific. 



The cruise was something sui generis in modern 

 warfare, recalling to mind the cruises of the early 

 English and Dutch navigators. An American ship 

 was at a serious disadvantage in having no harbor 

 of refuge away from home; while on almost every 

 sea there were British, French, and Spanish ports 

 into which vessels of those nations could run for 

 safety. It was an unprecedented thing for a small 

 frigate to cruise a year and a half in an enemy's wa 

 ters, and supply herself during that time, purely from 

 captured vessels, with everything cordage, sails, 

 guns, anchors, provisions, and medicines, and even 

 money to pay the officers and men ! Porter's cruise 

 was the very model of what such an expedition 

 should be, harassing the enemy most effectually at 

 no cost whatever. Had the Essex been decently 

 armed with long guns, instead of carronades, the 



