Porter, David
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
David (1780-1843), an American naval commander. He was a native of Boston. When eighteen years of age he entered the United States navy as a midshipman. During the war with Tripoli he was captured with the United States frigate Philadelphia, and was held a prisoner until the declaration of peace. During the war of 1812 he held command of various ships--chief of all the Essex. He was one of the most daring captains in the service. He cruised in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and captured many British merchantmen, inflicting no little damage on English commerce. Among other prizes were twelve British whale ships, carrying in all one hundred seven guns. The Essex carried at her masthead the popular motto: " Free trade and sailor's rights." In 1814 the Essex was caught in the harbor of Valparaiso by two British men-of-war. After a spirited combat of two hours Porter surrendered. The inhabitants of the city, it is claimed, climbed the surrounding heights and viewed the sight with lively interest. Whenever an American shot told they cheered. When the American flag went down they wept. Captain Porter wrote to the secretary of the navy, "We have been unfortunate, but not disgraced." In 1823 he was dispatched with a squadron to clear the West Indies of pirates. He did his work well, but one of his officers on a tour of investigation having been thrown into prison in a town of Porto Rico , Porter required the Spanish authorities to liberate him with an apology. Porter was tried at home by court-martial on the charge of having exceeded his authority, an apology being deemed a matter of diplomacy rather than of naval warfare. He was suspended from command for six months. In 1826 he resigned from the American navy and went to Mexico to help that republic in the struggle for independence from Spain. He closed his public service as resident minister of the United States in Turkey. He died at Constantinople. He was a man of intrepid character, without dispute one of the foremost American seamen. See Farragut ; Navy ; Battleship
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 account of Porter's career is still essentially the one historians give: the Philadelphia's capture off Tripoli in 1803, the Essex's raid on British whalers, the two-hour fight against Phoebe and Cherub off Valparaiso in March 1814, the Fajardo affair in Puerto Rico that brought a court-martial and six months' suspension, his service with the Mexican navy, and his death at Constantinople in 1843. What later writers stress, and Aiton passes over, is the Essex's stop in the Marquesas in 1813, where Porter tried to claim Nuku Hiva for the United States as "Madison's Island" - an early American reach into the Pacific that Washington never ratified - and the fact that his published journal of the cruise became source material for Herman Melville. Naval historians now also weigh his decision to fight at Valparaiso against the Essex's short-range carronade armament, which left her outgunned before the action began. The two names Aiton points the reader toward remain the family's best claim on memory: his foster son David Glasgow Farragut and his son David Dixon Porter both became admirals.
Written for this edition, 2026.