The Shining Sea (54 page)

176
    
For nine months, Pigot's abusive behavior:
The best account of the mutiny is Dudley Pope,
The Black Ship
(New York: Henry Holt, 1963); see also Rodger,
Command of the Ocean
, 452.

178
    
As light trade winds swept the
Essex:
Porter,
Journal
, 284.

179
    
“the beauties of the islands they were about visiting”:
Ibid.

179
    
Cook personally led the initial landing party:
J.C. Beaglehole,
The Life of Captain Cook
(Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1974), 375–79.

179
    
But what was truly striking:
Ibid., 275.

179
    
Unfortunately, Cook soon got caught up:
James Cook,
The Journals
, Philip Edwards, ed. (New York: Penguin, 2003), 339–44.

179
    
Porter knew the story well:
David Dixon Porter,
Memoir of Commodore David Porter,
168.

180
    
The first island in the archipelago that Mendaña:
J.C. Beaglehole,
The Exploration of the Pacific
, 3rd ed. (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1966), 66.

180
    
Mendaña's chief pilot:
Ibid., 68.

180
    
The Marquesas were spared more European visitors:
Greg Dening,
Island and Beaches: Discourses on a Silent Land: Marquesas 1774–1880
(Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1980).

181
    
As the
Essex
drove west:
Porter,
Journal
, 282.

181
    
In spite of the idyllic conditions:
Ibid., 286.

181
    
Disgusted, he moved on, continuing west:
Ibid., 289–90.

182
    
Soon, more canoes filled with men:
Ibid., 290–93.

183
    
This first encounter with what the
Essex
men:
Ibid. 293–98.

184
    
Porter anchored off Ua Huka for the night:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus
, Oct. 25, 1813.

Chapter Sixteen: Nuku Hiva

185
    
“No description can do justice to its beauty”:
Herman Melville,
Typee
(New York: Penguin Classics, 1996; originally published 1846), p. 12; Hershel Parker,
Herman Melville, A Biography, Volume I, 1819–1851
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 211.

185
    
Robert Louis Stevenson was just as enthralled:
Robert Louis Stevenson,
In the South Seas
(London: Penguin, 1998, first published in 1896), 6–7.

185
    
Porter renamed Taiohae as Massachusetts Bay:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Oct. 25, 1813; Porter,
Journal
, 300–301.

186
    
After looking into the bay:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Oct. 26, 1813; Porter,
Journal
, 443–44.

186
    
Before Downes arrived, Porter had a surprise:
Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin,
A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury, U.S.N. and C.S.N.
(London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1888), 11–13.

188
    
The tattooed man who had accompanied Maury:
Porter,
Journal
, 303–4.

188
    
When Porter first arrived on the beach:
Ibid., 320–24.

189
    
When it came time to reassemble:
Ibid., 306.

189
    
The women beguiled Porter:
Ibid., 308.

190
    
Porter does not mention where David Farragut:
David Farragut,
Some Reminiscences of Early Life,
quoted in Lewis,
David Glasgow Farragut,
85 and 324; Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut
, 27.

190
    
Porter wanted no part in the politics or wars:
Porter,
Journal
, 305–6.

191
    
While the messenger to the Hapa'a was away:
Ibid., 311.

191
    
After selecting his strongpoint:
Ibid., 318.

191
    
Gattanewa soon paid a visit:
Ibid., 315.

192
    
While all this activity was going on:
Ibid., 317–18.

192
    
On October 28, Gattanewa:
Ibid., 326.

193
    
Lieutenant Downes now departed:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus
, Oct. 29, 1813.

193
    
Mouina was barefoot:
Porter, Journal, 421–22.

193
    
Porter continued to follow Downes's movements:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Oct. 30, 1813; Porter,
Journal
, 327–28.

194
    
When they arrived, Porter released Gattanewa:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Oct. 31, 1813.

194
    
Porter was interested in what the Taiohae:
Ibid.; Porter,
Journal
, 329–39.

195
    
Mowattaeeh noticed the tents:
Porter,
Journal
, 349–51.

195
    
On November 3, an amazing event occurred:
Ibid., 357–58.

196
    
As the days went by, Porter and his men:
Ibid., 359.

197
    
Over thirty percent of the Bounty'
s crew:
Salmond,
Bligh,
163.

197
    
contact with people like Cook:
Glyn Williams,
The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 2.

197
    
By the time the Taiohae and Hapa'a:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Nov. 2, 1813.

197
    
After the rats had been removed:
Porter,
Journal
, 361.

Chapter Seventeen: Annexation and War

199
    
With repairs going well:
Porter,
Journal
, 366–68.

200
    
Before attacking the Taipi:
Ibid., 374–78;
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus,
Nov. 19, 1813.

201
    
At the same time that he was taking:
Porter,
Journal
, 379.

202
    
On November 28, Porter set about:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus
, Nov. 29, 1813.

203
    
Deeply chagrined, Porter believed:
Porter,
Journal
, 393.

204
    
At daylight, Porter went about:
Ibid., 395.

204
    
Porter's party spent the night:
Ibid., 397.

205
    
The compulsion he felt was peculiar to him:
Ibid.

205
    
This was a far cry from his claim:
Ibid., 398.

205
    
After briefly resting his party at the summit:
Ibid., 392.

205
    
Taipi drums were beating:
Ibid., 400–401.

206
    
Once the work of savaging the Taipi:
Ibid., 403.

206
    
When the column reached the summit:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus
, Nov. 29–Dec. 2, 1813.

206
    
With the defeat of the Taipi, Porter believed:
Porter,
Journal
, 405.

Chapter Eighteen: Mutiny

209
    
While Porter was dealing with his other problems:
Porter,
Journal
, 369.

209
    
A seaman named Lawson:
Journal of Midshipman William W. Feltus
, Nov. 16, 1813.

210
    
On the afternoon of November 15:
Ibid., Nov. 17 and 18, 1813.

210
    
Lawson and his mates were a small problem:
Porter,
Journal
, 371–74.

211
    
Dealing with the problem of expiring enlistments:
Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut,
29–30.

213
    
Porter thought that he had to guard:
Porter,
Journal
, 443.

Chapter Nineteen: Showdown in Valparaiso

215
    
The
Essex
and
Essex Junior
were stuffed:
Porter,
Journal
, 281.

215
    
Actually, his orders were to engage:
Secretary of the Navy Jones to Master Commandant John O. Creighton, Dec. 22, 1813, in Dudley, ed.,
Naval War of 1812
, 2:296–97.

216
    
Shortly after they left Nuku Hiva:
Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut,
30–33.

216
    
For nine days after the
Essex
and
Essex Junior
left:
Ibid., 31; Porter,
Journal
, 438 and 446.

216
    
As Porter approached the coast of South America:
Porter to Downes, Jan. 10, 1814, Porter Papers, Naval Academy Museum.

218
    
On January 12, a month after leaving:
Porter,
Journal
, 446.

218
    
After exchanging salutes with the battery on old Fort Viejo:
Luis Galdames,
A History of Chile
, trans. Isaac Joslin Cox (New York: Russell & Russell, 1964), 177–80.

219
    
Soon after Porter's arrival in February:
Porter to Secretary of the Navy Jones, July 13, 1814, in Michael J. Crawford, ed.,
The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History
(Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 2002), 3:715–16.

220
    
All was in readiness on the
Essex
as well:
Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut
, 33.

220
    
Playing on the fact that Valparaiso:
Ibid., 33–34.

221
    
“O, sir,” Hillyar shouted to Porter:
Porter,
Journal
, 474–75.

221
    
Nonetheless, Porter was leery:
Mahan,
Admiral Farragut
, 32–33.

221
    
In trying to extricate himself:
Porter,
Journal
, 475.

222
    
But the
Phoebe
never touched the
Essex:
Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut
, 33–34.

222
    
As soon as the
Phoebe
was in place:
Porter,
Journal
, 475–76.

222
    
Porter insisted that respect for Chilean neutrality:
Ibid., 476–77.

223
    
During their later meetings, Porter made it clear:
Dixon to Croker, June 21, 1813, in Graham and Humphreys, eds.,
The Navy and South America,
93–95.

224
    
Hillyar could afford to wait:
Hillyar to Croker, Feb. 28, 1814, in ibid., 133–34.

224
    
Porter for his part continued trying:
Statement of Master Commandant John Downes,
Niles Weekly Register,
Aug. 20, 1814; Porter,
Journal
, 484–89.

225
    
During this set-to, the
Phoebe
showed:
Farragut,
Life of David Glasgow Farragut
, 34; Captain James Hillyar to First Secretary of the Admiralty John W. Croker, June 26, 1814 in Crawford, ed.,
Naval War of 1812,
3:719–20.