22 Naval War of 1812 



line, although from the smoothness of the sea she 

 was not harmed enough below it to reduce her to 

 a sinking condition. 21 The carpenter reported that 

 he alone of his crew was fit for duty; the others 

 were dead or disabled. Lieutenant Wilmer was 

 knocked overboard by a splinter, and drowned; his 

 little, negro boy, "Ruff," came up on deck, and, 

 hearing of the disaster, deliberately leaped into the 

 sea and shared his master's fate. Lieutenant Oden- 

 heimer was also knocked overboard, but afterward 

 regained the ship. A shot, glancing upward, killed 

 four of the men who were standing by a gun, strik 

 ing the last one in the head and scattering his brains 

 over his comrades. The only commissioned officer 

 left on duty was Lieutenant Decatur McKnight. 

 The sailing-master, Barnwell, when terribly wound 

 ed, remained at his post till he fainted from loss 

 of blood. Of the 255 men aboard the Essex when 

 the battle began, 58 had been killed, 66 wounded, 

 and 31 drowned ("missing"), while 24 had suc 

 ceeded in reaching shore. But 76 men were left 

 unwounded, and many of these had been bruised 

 or otherwise injured. Porter himself was knocked 

 down by the windage of a passing shot. While the 

 young midshipman, Farragut, was on the ward 

 room ladder, going below for gun-primers, the cap 

 s' An exactly analogous case to that of the British sloop 

 Reindeer. 



