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Historical Significance
The first USS Essex of the United States
Navy was a sailing frigate that participated
in the Quasi-War with France, the Barbary
Wars, and in the War of 1812, during which
she was captured by the British (1814).
The frigate was launched September 30, 1799
by Enos Briggs, Salem, Massachusetts, at cost of
$139,362 subscribed by the people of Salem and
Essex County. On December 17, 1799 she was
presented to the United States and accepted by
Captain Edward Preble.
With the United States involved in naval
action against France on January 6, 1800,
Essex, under Captain Preble, departed New York
in company with Congress to rendezvous with and
convoy merchant ships returning from Batavia,
Dutch East Indies. Shortly after commencement of
her journey, Essex became the first U. S. Naval
Ship to cross the Equator. Congress was
dismasted only a few days out, and Essex was
obliged to continue her voyage alone, making her
mark as the first U.S. man-of-war to double the
Cape of Good Hope, both in March and in August
1800 prior to successfully completing her convoy
mission in November.
Captain William Bainbridge commanded Essex on
her second cruise, whereon she sailed to the
Mediterranean with the squadron of Commodore
Richard Dale. Dispatched to protect American
trade and seamen against depredations by the
Barbary Pirates, the squadron arrived at
Gibraltar on July 1, 1801 and spent the ensuing
year convoying American merchantmen and
blockading Tripolitan ships in their ports.
Following repairs at the Washington Navy Yard in
1802, Essex resumed her duties in the
Mediterranean under Captain James Barron in
August 1804. She participated in the successful
attack on the town of Derne on April 27, 1805
and remained in those waters until the
conclusion of peace terms in 1806.
Returning to the Washington Navy Yard in
July, she was placed in ordinary until February
1809 when she was recommissioned for sporadic
use in patrolling American waters and a single
cruise to Europe.
War
of 1812
When war was declared against Britain on June
18, 1812, Essex, commanded by Captain David
Porter, made a successful cruise to the
southward. On July 11, near Bermuda, she fell in
with seven British transports and by moonlight
engaged and took one of them as a prize. On
August 13, she encountered and captured the
sloop Alert after an engagement. By September
when she returned to New York, Essex had taken
10 prizes.
Essex sailed in South Atlantic waters and
along the coast of Brazil until January 1813
when Captain Porter undertook the decimation of
English whale fisheries in the Pacific. Although
her crew suffered greatly from a shortage of
provisions and heavy gales while rounding Cape
Horn, she anchored safely at Valparaíso, Chile,
on March 14, having seized schooners Elizabeth
and Nereyda along the way. The next 5 months
brought Essex 13 prizes, including Essex Junior,
(ex-Atlantic) which cruised in company with her
captor to the Island of Nukahiva for repairs.
Porter put his executive officer John Downes in
command of that ship.
In January 1814, Essex sailed into neutral
waters at Valparaiso, only to be trapped there
for 6 weeks by the British frigate, HMS Phoebe
(36 guns) and the sloop-of-war Cherub (18 guns).
On March 18, 1814, Porter determined to gain the
open sea, fearing the arrival of British
reinforcements. Upon rounding the point, Essex
lost her main top-mast to foul weather, forcing
her return to the harbor. The British,
disregarding the neutrality of the harbor,
proceeded with the attack on the crippled ship.
For 2½ hours, Essex, armed almost entirely with
powerful but short range guns called carronades
(which Porter had complained to the Navy about
on several occasions), resisted the enemy's
superior fighting power and longer gun range. A
fire erupted twice aboard the Essex, at which
point about 50 men abandoned the ship and swam
for shore; only half of them landing.
Eventually, the hopeless situation forced the
frigate to surrender. The Essex suffered 58
killed, 97 wounded, while the British casualties
were 5 dead, 10 wounded.
Essex was repaired and taken into the Royal
Navy as HMS Essex, and in 1833 served as a
prison ship at Kingston, Ireland. On June
6, 1837 she was sold at public auction.
David Farragut, who later became a prominent
Federal naval officer in the American Civil War,
served as a midshipman aboard the Essex.
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