Essex, USS

The USS Essex, a 46-gun frigate, is most famous for its voyage to the Pacific in the War Of 1812 (1812-15), wreaking havoc on British shipping until it was captured by the frigate HMS Phoebe and another vessel. The Essex was built in Salem, Massachusetts, as part of the expansion of the

U. S. Navy in the late 1790s. In 1799, along with the USS Congress, the Essex under Edward Preble was dispatched to the Far East to escort an American convoy of merchantmen back to the United States. The Congress was damaged in a storm soon after it left port, leaving the Essex to proceed on its own. The Essex was thus the first American naval vessel to cross the equator, venture into the Indian Ocean, and show its flag in the East Indies. She returned after almost a year at sea in 1800.

The Essex also participated in the campaign against Tripoli (1803-05), but only really became famous at the beginning of the War of 1812. In July 1812, the Essex under the command of Captain David Porter missed a British convoy in the Atlantic, but in two months she captured nine prizes, including the first British warship to surrender to an American vessel in the war. The total value of the prizes was over $300,000, an impressive sum at the time. In autumn 1812, the Essex was ordered to rendezvous with the Constitution and the Hornet in the South Atlantic. Those two ships, however, successfully fought with British counterparts and returned to the United States. Left on his own, and fearing that he was surrounded by British warships, Captain Porter headed for the Pacific. By early spring 1813, he was capturing British whalers and other vessels, accumulating a small fleet for himself. In September, he decided he needed to refit and set sail for the Marquesas. After spending seven weeks in the Pacific island paradise of Nukahiva, Porter left the island group with the Essex and a consort he had captured earlier and called the Essex Junior Unfortunately, soon after they arrived in Valparaiso, Chile, then still a Spanish possession, two British ships appeared. Since they were in a neutral port, the British did not attack, but when Porter finally made an attempt to run past them, a gale came up and damaged some of the rigging of the Essex. Although Porter made it back to neutral waters, the two British ships pursued him and pounded him into surrender while remaining out of range of most of the Essex’s heavy guns.

Further reading: William M. Fowler, Jr., Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984).