Every Man Will Do His Duty (64 page)

These were all the vessels the names of which they could at the moment recollect; but they assured me that the number of British whalers now on the coast of Chili and Peru did not amount to less than twenty, all fine ships of not less than four hundred tons burthen; and that their cargoes in England would be worth two hundred thousand dollars each, which, agreeable to this estimate, would be upwards of four millions of British property now exposed to us; for I did not conceive that their whole force united would be a match for the
Essex.
Besides the capture and destruction of those vessels, I had another object in view, of no less importance, which was the protection of the American whale-ships; and if I should only succeed in driving the British from the ocean and leaving it free for our own vessels, I conceive that I shall have rendered an essential service to my country, and that the effecting this object alone would be a sufficient compensation for the hardships and dangers we have experienced, and be considered a justification for departing from the letter of my instructions. That I can effect this, no doubts exist, provided the
Standard
¹
has left Lima; and this it is necessary I should be informed of before I make my attack on the Gallipagos, for I have knowledge of letters having been written to Lima by an active English merchant (perhaps an agent of the British government) residing at Valparaiso. They were sent by the ships which sailed four days before us; but as they had the reputation of being bad sailers, and calculating some on Spanish indolence, and much on our own activity and industry, I am in hopes of looking into.

Lima before they can arrive there; and shall so disguise the ship that she cannot be known there from any description that the aforesaid letters may contain. Until information respecting the
Standard
can be obtained, all my proceedings must be governed by views toward that vessel, she being the only vessel of war the British have in those seas, and I can have but little apprehension of being pursued by any from the Atlantic for some months, or at least until I have time to do them much injury. Although information had been sent from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso of my being on the coast of!

Brazils, and this information had reached Valparaiso two weeks before my arrival, yet they could not have had an idea of my intention of coming into this sea, as it was unknown to every person but myself until after passing
the River of Plate. The same mail that brought intelligence of my being on the coast of Brazils, also gave an account of an action having been fought off Bahia between the American frigate
Constitution
and the British frigate
Java
of forty-four guns, in which the latter was sunk; also of the capture of her convoy; and of some small place on the coast of Africa having been laid under contribution by the squadron under the command of Commodore Rodgers. It was also stated that the
Wasp,
an American sloop of war, had captured a British sloop of war after a hard-fought action, but had afterwards been captured by a frigate; and that the
Constitution
was repairing her damages at St. Salvador, where the British admiral ([Vice-Admiral Sir Manley] Dixon) had proceeded, with a determination of destroying her. This news of the operations of our little navy makes us pant for an opportunity of doing something ourselves. We have, however, a wide field for enterprise before us and shall shortly enter on the scene of action; and although, perhaps, we shall neither have an opportunity of laying towns under contribution, nor sinking frigates, still we hope to render a service to our country no less essential, to wit: the protection of our commerce, and the destruction of that of the enemy.

On the 28th I made all sail to the northward, and on the 3d of April made the high lands of Nasia, on the coast of Peru. The interval between these two periods was not marked by any extraordinary occurrence. We were employed in taking all advantages of the winds in getting to the northward, and in disguising our ship, which was done by painting her in such a manner as to conceal her real force and exhibiting in its stead the appearance of painted guns, &c; also by giving her the appearance of having a poop and otherwise so altering her as to make her look like a Spanish merchant vessel. The winds were constantly fair; the weather remarkably clear, fine, and temperate; the sea smooth; and every thing favourable for making such little repairs and alterations as the ship required.

Immediately on passing the tropic, we met with flying-fish: this is the first we met with since we left the coast of Brazil.

At six o’clock of the 28th, we were abreast the island of Sangallan, or St. Gallan, when I hauled off to the northwest, with a view of crossing the track of vessels bound to Callao. On the morning of the 29th, to the great joy of all on board, we discovered three sail standing in for the harbour, two to windward and one to leeward. I consequently made all sail for the port to cut them off, and, as I approached the headmost vessel, she seemed to answer the description I had received of the
Barclay.
As she was nearest to the port, I determined to turn all my attention to her and to use every effort to prevent her getting in: but as she approached the island of St. Lorenzo, which lies off the port of Callao, I began to despair of succeeding.
I however directed all the light sails to be wet, in order to make them hold wind the better, and prepared my boats to send in to bring her out of the harbour, if she should succeed in getting past the island. As I approached St. Lorenzo, I discovered that she would be becalmed so soon as she doubled the point of the island, as she eventually was. We were, at the moment of her turning the point, at the distance of two miles and a half from her, but shot in with the breeze to within one hundred yards of her, then lowered the boats down and sent on board to tow her out, which was not effected without considerable labour, in consequence of an indraught. As we were but a short distance from the shipping in the harbour, and perceiving the two Spanish vessels had not arrived from Valparaiso, I hoisted English colours on board the
Essex
and directed the officer of the captured vessel (which proved to be the
Barclay)
to hoist English colours over the American. The vessels in port, which were numerous, now hoisted their colours, which were all Spanish except one British flag hoisted on board an armed ship, which did not answer the description of the
Nimrod.

The other strange vessels continued standing in; one of them had the appearance of a coasting brig, the other a fine looking ship; and we were induced to believe her the
Nimrod
from the description we had received of that vessel. I therefore took a position to prevent her passing the point, when she hauled her wind to go between the island and main, where there is a passage for ships of large burthen, but shortly afterwards bore up, under a press of sail, to run by us, and on his near approach I perceived it to be one of the Spanish vessels that had sailed from Valparaiso before us. I felt satisfied that we had so altered the vessel that they could not know us; besides, how was it possible that they could expect to find the
Essex
off Callao, when they left her at Valparaiso, beginning to take in provisions and water?

On her getting into the calms under the lee of the island, I despatched a boat to get the news from her, but recalled her on seeing the guard-boat go on board. I now sent for the captain of the
Barclay
(Randall), informed him he was at liberty to act as he thought proper with respect to his ship, and that, although his crew had entered with me, they might return to the
Barclay,
if they were disposed to do so. But as they expressed their determination not to return to that ship, the captain informed me he was entirely at a loss what course to pursue and asked my advice. I at the moment felt as much embarrassment as he; for he was without hands, except two or three who were down with the scurvy, having been constantly at sea for seven months without refreshments. No port on the coast of Peru could afford him a shelter, as our destruction of the armament of the
Nereyda,
in consequence of the capture of the
Barclay,
would render the condemnation of that vessel highly probable, if she should again be in the power of the Peruvians; and if
the remainder of his crew were all healthy, they would not be strong enough to take her to Valparaiso or any other port of Chili, even if there was nothing to be apprehended from capture by British and Peruvian vessels. I however concluded to give him all the protection in my power, and advised him to remain by me, offering to put on board hands enough to work his vessel, and promised not to leave him until I had put him in a place of safety. With this promise he appeared much pleased and offered his services to me in any way he could prove useful, giving me assurances that he could take me where the British whale-vessels most frequented, advising me, by all means, to proceed to the islands of Gallipagos, keeping at the distance of from thirty to fifty leagues from the land, and on my way looking into Payta. He confirmed, in every respect, the information respecting the British whalers that I had formerly received, and assured me that there were many other vessels of that description, and others engaged in contraband trade, now on the coast; he had no doubt we could find as many as we could conveniently man, among the islands, as well as the American vessels they might have captured. After putting on board the
Barclay
Midshipman Cowan and eight men, and fixing on Payta and the Gallipagos as the places of rendezvous in case of separation, also furnishing him with suitable signals and giving him instructions to steer such courses as would enable us to spread over as much ground as possible in our track, I shaped my course to the WNW, to run between the rocks of Pelado and the Hormigas, which lies about thirty miles from Callao.

The town of Callao is the seaport of Lima, from which the latter is distant about three leagues. Callao is an open road-stead; but as the wind here always blows from the southward, and never with violence, and as it is well sheltered from this quarter by the projecting capes, and by the island of St. Lorenzo, it is considered in this sea as one of the safest harbours for vessels. In this place all the trade of Peru centres; it is apparently well fortified by batteries on shore and is said to be well protected, in addition to those, by a formidable flotilla of gunboats. The calms which appear to prevail in the bay seem to render this mode of defence very proper; and if this is the case, it must be very dangerous for hostile vessels to venture beyond the island of St. Lorenzo. Off the point of St. Lorenzo is a very suitable station for a vessel blockading Callao, as she can there, in consequence of the calms, prevent every vessel from going in, as she can run in and have the breeze at the distance of half gun-shot of them, after they have doubled the point, and while they are perfectly becalmed; in this situation, exposed to her guns, the boats can take possession and tow them out.

While we lay to here, I observed the sea filled with small red specks, and supposed at first that some hog had been killed on board and that part
of the blood was floating along side; but on a close examination I perceived them to have at times a very quick motion, and on directing some of them to be caught in a bucket, discovered them to be young craw-fish, of different sizes, but generally from one inch in length to one tenth that size. The ocean appeared filled with them; and from the immense number of birds that kept about this spot, I am induced to believe that no small number of them were daily devoured. They did not appear to be governed by any general laws, each one pursuing his own course, and shifting for himself; no two appearing in the same direction; and it is probable that, as soon as they left the egg, each one began to seek his own subsistence. Two of them were put into a bottle of sea-water, and on some crumbs of bread being thrown in, they seized and devoured them very ravenously.

About this time I concluded to change the water in which the fish had been put, that was pumped out of the cask off Cape Horn. To this period it had been very lively; but perceiving the water to have a yellow tinge, and feeling apprehensive that it might undergo fermentation, from the food which had at different times been thrown in, I supposed that pure water would be better than that in which it had been so long confined, but concluded it best to produce a gradual change. With this view I put into the bottle about one gill of the water we had taken on board at Valparaiso. The water in the bottle gradually assumed a milky appearance, and next morning I found the fish dead and floating on the surface. This confirmed suspicions we had before entertained of the bad qualities of this water. Doctor Miller, who was in a very low state of health and had been so ever since he joined the
Essex,
complained of its producing costiveness. I also, and many others, experienced the same effect; it has a disagreeable, brackish taste, and it is with great difficulty it can be made to mix with soap.

On the evening of the 4th, James Spafford, the gunner’s mate, who had been so unfortunately wounded by accident at Mocha, departed this life, regretted by every officer and man in the ship.
²
He had distinguished himself by his moral and correct conduct under my command, and I had intended promoting him to a better situation, so soon as circumstances would admit.