12 Naval War of 1812 



It is much to be regretted that it is almost im 

 possible to get at the British account of any of 

 these expeditions which ended successfully for the 

 Americans; all such cases are generally ignored by 

 the British historians; so that I am obliged to rely 

 solely upon the accounts of the victors, who with 

 the best intentions in the world, could hardly be 

 perfectly accurate. 



At the close of 1813 Captain Porter was still 

 cruising in the Pacific. 



Early in January the Essex, now with 255 men 

 aboard, made the South American coast, and on 

 the 1 2th of that month anchored in the harbor of 

 Valparaiso. She had in company a prize, re-christ 

 ened the Essex Junior, with a crew of 60 men, and 

 20 guns, 10 long sixes and 10 eighteen-pound car- 

 ronades. Of course she could not be used in a com 

 bat with regular cruisers. 



On Feb. 8th, the British frigate Phoebe, 36, Cap 

 tain James Hilyar, accompanied by the Cherub, 18, 

 'Captain Thomas Tudor Tucker, the former carry 

 ing 300 and the latter 140 men, 13 made their ap 

 pearance, and apparently proposed to take the Essex 

 by a coup de main. They hauled into the harbor 

 on a wind, the Cherub falling to leeward ; while the 

 Phoebe made the port quarters of the Essex, and 



13 They afterward took on board enough men from British 

 merchant- vessels to raise their complements respectively to 

 320 and 1 80. 



