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Porter (DAVID an American naval)

DAVID, an American naval officer; born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 1, 1780, son of a naval officer. He was appointed midshipman in 1798, lieutenant the year after; saw service in the West Indies, and against Tripoli in 1801-1803; became captain in 1812, and captured the first British warship taken in the war. In 1813, with the "Essex" (32 guns), he nearly destroyed the English whale fishery in the Pacific, and took possession of the Marquesas Islands.

March, 1814, his frigate was destroyed by the British in V Valparaiso harbor. He afterward commanded an expedition against pirates in the West Indian waters, and was court-martialed for compelling the authorities at Porto Rico to apologize for imprisoning one of his officers. Porter resigned in 1826, and became head of the Mexican In 1829 the United States appointed him consi-general to the Barbary States, and then minister at Constantinople, where he died, March 3, 1843.

PORTER and in 1870 became admiral. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 13, 1891.