The Shining Sea (45 page)

Porter and his colleagues made a mighty effort with pitifully inadequate resources, but they could not stop Gordon. They did hold him back long enough, however, to give Baltimore's defenders additional time to prepare. It made a significant difference. The strength of Baltimore's defenses forced Admiral Cochrane's invaders to withdraw after an ineffective bombardment. His humiliating withdrawal, along with the unexpected defeat of British forces at Fort Erie on August 11-12 and at Plattsburgh, New York, on September 11, played an important part in convincing the prime minister, Lord Liverpool, and his cabinet to end the war. Porter and his men, thus, played a not insignificant role in ending the War of 1812 on far better terms than anyone at the time thought possible.

With the war over and Porter an even bigger hero than ever, Decatur's court of inquiry into the loss of the
Essex
appeared pointless and was suspended indefinitely.

CHAPTER

22

L
IEUTENANT
G
AMBLE AT
N
UKU
H
IVA

T
EMPORARILY FORGOTTEN AMID THE HORRENDOUS EVENTS
in Valparaiso was twenty-three-year-old Lieutenant John Gamble and his tiny crew at Nuku Hiva. They had been trying to maintain control of Porter's pathetic caricature of a colony with a wholly inadequate force. Not surprisingly, the moment the
Essex
and
Essex Junior
departed, the Taiohae tested Gamble.
“The frigate had scarcely got clear of the Marquesas before we discovered a hostile disposition on the part of the natives,” he reported many months later to Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Crowninshield, who had replaced William Jones.

Porter had assumed that the Taiohae were thoroughly cowed and would be the least likely tribe to cause trouble. Actually, Gamble had difficulties with them right from the start. A few days after Porter left, the Taiohae became so insolent that Gamble “found it absolutely necessary, not only for the security of the ships [
Seringapatam, Greenwich
, and
Sir Andrew Hammond
], and property on shore [Fort Madison], but for our personal safety, to land my men and regain by force of arms, the many things they had, in the most daring manner, stolen from the encampment;
and what was of still greater importance, to prevent, if possible, their putting threats into execution, which might have been attended with the most serious consequences on our part from duty requiring my men to be so much separated.”

To underscore his determination not to be run over, Gamble captured two chieftains and put them aboard the
Greenwich
until all swine stolen from Fort Madison were returned. His fast action checked the Taiohae for the moment, but a series of subsequent events kept Gamble on edge, prepared for the worst. To begin with, discipline was breaking down among his men, particularly the British prisoners, something that Porter should have foreseen. On January 20 the crew on the
Seringapatam
brought girls on board, which was forbidden. Gamble had issued strict orders not to permit any natives on the ships. He did not want the Taiohae finding out just how undermanned he was. The girls were sent ashore, and the men flogged, but the blatant disregarding of orders was unsettling.

Things were quiet for a time, but on February 28, John Witter, a marine, was found drowned in the surf for no apparent reason. Gamble investigated but failed to discover what had happened. A short time later, on March 6, Isaac Coffin, an escaped British prisoner whom Gamble had recaptured after the
Essex
left, escaped again during the night. Aware that Coffin's companions had freed him, Gamble took eight armed men and searched for him. They found him in a native house, took him back to the ship, and put him in irons. The following morning at ten o'clock, Gamble, with all crew and prisoners assembled, gave Coffin three dozen lashes.

Twelve days later, four men deserted during the night. One was Coffin, who had been set loose from his irons once more. Another was John Robertson, an American prisoner in irons. Two of the four were original members of the
Essex
crew. They took advantage of the darkness, stove in Gamble's blue boat (the fastest pulling boat) in two places, and left the bay in a whaleboat. No one saw them escape except a former prisoner, who had the watch on deck that night and was one of them. The deserters took several muskets, a supply of ammunition, and other articles such as two compasses, clothing, a spyglass, an English ensign, two axes, a grindstone,
and a boat sail, all of which would be of considerable use. Gamble had no hope of catching them.
“My attempt to pursue them was prevented by their destroying partially the only boat (near the beach) at that time seaworthy,” he wrote.
The deserters made their way to Santa Christiana (Tahuata) Island, one of the Marquesas, where they hid for months until a British frigate, the
Briton,
picked them up.

By April, Gamble was losing any hope of Porter returning, and on the 12th, he began rigging the
Seringapatam
and
Sir Andrew Hammond
for departure. The remaining men were employed removing everything of service from the
Greenwich
to the
Seringapatam
. While the work went ahead, Gamble sensed that something was wrong, that perhaps a mutiny was brewing, and he ordered the remaining muskets, ammunition, and small arms taken to the
Greenwich
—the ship he was living on.

On May 7, the uprising he had feared broke out on the
Seringapatam
. He happened to be on board at the time, and even though he was on guard, he was surprised when he was violently attacked. An intense struggle ensued. Gamble was beaten to the deck and had his hands and legs tied. He was then thrown below and dragged to the cabin, where he was confined beneath the floor in a space that had no window or light. Midshipman Feltus and Acting Midshipman Clapp were also knocked down and put in the same place with Gamble, where they were tied down and could hardly breath. The entrance to their tiny space was then nailed down and a sentinel placed over it. After complaining loudly about their inhuman confinement, the three were allowed into the cabin. Gamble was forced to sit on a chest under the skylight with two men guarding him.

The fourteen mutineers lost no time spiking the guns on the
Greenwich
and the
Sir Andrew Hammond
and at Fort Madison. Then they removed the arms and ammunition from the
Greenwich
and put them aboard the
Seringapatam.
They also took everything else of use to them from the other ships and put them on the
Seringapatam
. They sent for Robert White, whom Porter had chased from the
Essex
for mutinous conduct, and bending the topsails, got underway at 6 P.M., standing out of the bay with a light wind off the land. Gamble believed that almost none of the mutineers were Americans. He thought that twelve were Englishmen, six of whom had joined the
Essex
's crew and six who had remained prisoners.
There was also a foreigner, and the American, Robert White, making a total of fourteen.
Midshipman Feltus had a different view of who the fourteen were. According to him, six were prisoners, four were former prisoners who had joined the
Essex
crew, and four were Americans. The four Americans were Thomas Belcher, James Bantum, Martin Stanley, and Robert White. Feltus was undoubtedly correct.

When the mutineers were moving slowly out of the bay, an unfortunate accident happened. Lewis Ronsford, a clumsy sentinel who was guarding Gamble, Feltus, Clapp and two other prisoners, mishandled a pistol he was carrying and shot Gamble in the left heel a little below the ankle bone. When the mutineers on the deck above heard the shot, they immediately assumed the worst, grabbed muskets, and pointed them down the skylight. They were about to fire at Gamble and the others, when Ronsford shouted that he had discharged his weapon in error. Somewhat relieved—they did not want to kill their captives—the mutineers backed off. But Gamble was left with a dangerous wound.

By nine o'clock, the
Seringapatam
was safely out of the bay. The night was dark and the wind blowing fresh. The mutineers decided to get rid of Gamble and his companions, Midshipmen Clapp and Feltus, and seamen William Worth, and Richard Sandsbury. They put them in a leaky boat, gave them a keg of gunpowder, and three old muskets, which Gamble had asked for. While the
Seringapatam
disappeared into the night, Gamble and the others rowed for the
Greenwich
, bailing for six long miles, fighting to keep the boat afloat, before finally making it back to the ship, exhausted, but feeling lucky that the mutineers had not killed them and dumped their bodies overboard.

Two days later, Gamble and his remaining men were hard at work making preparations to leave for Valparaiso. They were assisted by George Ross and William Brudenell, Americans who by chance were on Nuku Hiva collecting sandalwood. While Gamble's men were moving supplies from Fort Madison to the
Sir Andrew Hammond
, the Taiohae—urged on by Wilson, the tattooed Englishman with a fondness for rum, whom Porter had trusted and used as an interpreter—attacked them, murdering Midshipman Feltus, John Thomas, Thomas Gibbs, and William Brudenell. Not everyone was killed, however. Peter Caddington, a marine, and
William Worth jumped into the water and started swimming for the ship with the Taiohae after them.

Seeing what was happening, Midshipman Clapp and three others put off in a boat to rescue them, while Gamble fired grape and canister shot at the attackers from the ship. Caddington was badly wounded as he struggled forward, but Clapp managed to pick up both him and Worth and return to the ship safely, with the Taiohae working hard to intercept them. The Taiohae did not stop either. They kept on coming and tried to board the
Greenwich
and
Sir Andrew Hammond
. But Gamble, who was on the
Sir Andrew Hammond
, drove them off with a cannon.

Meanwhile, Wilson and hundreds of Taiohae were overrunning Fort Madison. They tried to get the spikes out of the guns as quickly as possible and turn them on the
Sir Andrew Hammond
, where Gamble and the rest of his men were—with the exception of John Pettinger, a sick man aboard the
Greenwich
.

Gamble—still in excruciating pain—was running low on ammunition. He knew he had to get the
Sir Andrew Hammond
out of the bay before Wilson succeeded in readying the shore battery. Before leaving, Gamble sent a boat to retrieve Pettinger and burn the
Greenwich
. When the boat returned with Pettinger and the
Greenwich
was blazing, Gamble made a run for it. Having already bent the jib and spanker, he cut his anchor (not being able to pull it), and, even though it was a dark night and the only light was coming from the burning
Greenwich
, a providential breeze carried him clear of the bay. Gamble had eight pathetic souls on board—“one cripple confined to bed,” he wrote, “one man dangerously wounded, one sick, one convalescent (a feeble old man recovering from the scurvy) and myself, unable to lend any further assistance, the exertions of the day having inflamed my wound so much as to produce a violent fever; leaving Midshipman Clapp and only two men capable of doing duty.”
To make matters worse, just six cartridges remained.

“In that state,” Gamble recorded, “destitute of charts, and of every means of getting to windward, I saw but one alternative; to run the trade winds down, and, if possible, make the Sandwich [Hawaiian] Islands,” a perilous journey of two thousand miles.
After struggling out of Taiohae Bay, Gamble, who was using a crutch to walk, lost no time getting up topsails. His chances
weren't good. But as luck would have it, against horrendous odds, he succeeded, reaching the Sandwich Islands on May 25, after a passage of seventeen incredibly difficult days—“suffering much from fatigue and hardships” the entire way, Gamble remembered.

On May 30, Gamble came to anchor in Waikiki Bay off the island of Oahu. As he had hoped, a few Americans were there, including Captain Nathaniel Winship and some officers from other ships who were anxious to help. “I received every assistance their situations would afford me,” he reported.

Hawaiians supplied Gamble with fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit. They expected in return that he would take their chief man and some others with their property to the big island of Hawaii, which was to windward. The weather was too boisterous for the Hawaiians to make the journey in their canoes. Gamble hired nine men to supplement the crew of the
Sir Andrew Hammond
and sailed for Hawaii to meet the king of the islands and request provisions from him, after which Gamble intended to sail to Valparaiso, following Porter's original instructions.