16 



PORTER S JOURNAL. 



those seas, to wit, the Montague 74, the Nenis 32, and the 

 Bonne Citoyenne of 20 guns, (the tirst at Rio Janeiro, the 

 second at the River of Plate, and the third at Bahia,) I was 

 very well satisfied, that the frigate and sloop of war could 

 be no others than the American frigate Constitution and 

 the sloop of war Hornet; and as 1 expected that they 

 would remain there to endeavour to take the Bonne Citoy- 

 enne, 1 determined to join them with all despatch. 



I requested the commander of the brig to call on the ad- 

 miral immediately on his arrival at Rio Janeiro, and inform 

 him, that he had spoken his Britannic majesty's frigate Hy- 

 perion, of thirty- two guns, seven weeks from England, bound 

 to Rio, but having heard of a large American privateer on 

 the coast, I intended cruising for her a short time before I 

 went in. He promised me he would make it his business to 

 do so immediately on his arrival. 



My motive for giving this information was to keep the 

 admiral in port, as I had certain intelligence from the pri- 

 soners that he expected reinforcements from England, and 

 I was in hopes that the expectation of their arrival in a few- 

 days might occasion him to delay his departure in pursuit 

 of the ships off Bahia, of which I was certain he would re- 

 ceive intelligence by the first arrival from that quarter. 

 This would enable me to cruise more leisurely for the con- 

 voy, and give sufficient time to join the commodore, before 

 the admiral could get there, as I believed that the Consti- 

 tution, Essex, and Hornet, would be a match for him. 



On the 3d, spoke another Portuguese brig, who informed 

 me that she had left an American frigate and sloop of war 

 olf Bahia ten days since. 



We now discovered that our mizzen-topmast trussel-trees 

 were in as bad a state as those of the main ; and it falling 

 calm, I determined to take advantage of it to repair our 

 damages, having previously caused a new set of trussel- 

 trees to be prepared. We consequently all went to work, 

 sent down the main and mizzen topmasts, stripped diem of 

 their rigging, and before night had completed all our repairs. 



On the 5th, in the morning, spoke a Portuguese smack, 

 from Rio bound to Bahia ; had seen nothing of the convoy ; 

 and at meridian spoke a Spanish brig, with troops from Ba- 

 hia, bound to Monte Video, out eight days ; confirmed the 

 account of the American frigate and sloop of war. As the 



