PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
249 
by making much sail, as I believed her to be an English whaler. 
I consequently directed the fore and main royal-yards to be sent 
down, and the masts to be housed, the ports to be shut in, and the 
ship to be disguised in every respect as a merchantman, and kept 
plying to windward for the stranger under easy sail, as he continu¬ 
ed to lie 4o, and drifted down on us very fast. At meridian, we 
were sufficiently near to ascertain that she was a whale-ship, and 
then employed in cutting in whales; and from her general appear¬ 
ance, some were of opinion that it was the same ship that had giv¬ 
en us so long a chace, and put us to so much trouble, near Abing- 
ton Island; she was, however, painted very differently, and from 
her showing no appearance of alarm, I had my doubts on the sub¬ 
ject. I had got possession of some of the whalemen’s signals, and 
made to her one which had been agreed on between a captain Win. 
Porter and the captain of the New Zealander, in case they should 
meet. I did not know but this might be captain Porter’s ship, and 
that the signal might be the means of shortening the chace, by in¬ 
ducing him to come down to us. 
At 1 o’clock we were at the distance of 4 miles from the 
chace, when she cast off from the whales she had alongside, and 
made all sail from us. Every thing was now set to the best ad¬ 
vantage on board the Essex, and at 4 o’clock we were within gun 
shot, when, after firing 6 or 8 shot at her, she bore down under 
our lee, and struck her colours. She proved to be the British let¬ 
ter of marque ship, Sir Andrew Hammond, pierced for 20 guns, 
commissioned for 16, but had only 12 mounted, with a com¬ 
plement of 36 men, and commanded by the identical captain Por¬ 
ter whose signal I had hoisted; but the most agreeable circum¬ 
stance of the whole was, that this was the same ship we had for¬ 
merly chaced ; and the captain assured me, that our ship had been 
so strangely altered, that he supposed her tQ be a whale-ship un¬ 
til we were within 3 or 4 miles of him, and it was too late to es¬ 
cape ; nor did he suppose her to be a frigate until we were with¬ 
in gun shot, and indeed never should have supposed her to be the 
same ship that had chaced him before, as she did not now appear 
above one half the size she did formerly. 
The decks of this ship were full of the blubber of the whales 
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