PORTER, David, American naval officer: b. Boston, 1 Feb. 1780; d. Pera, near Constan tinople, Turkey, 3 March 1843. He made voyages in the West Indian merchant service, was twice impressed by the British, but escaped, and in 1798 entered the United States navy as a midshipman. He was on board the Consti tution in the fight with L'Insurgente in 1799, and served as a lieutenant in the war with Tripoli. Captured with the Philadelphia, he remained in imprisonment until the peace. In the War of 1812, he fought with distinction, capturing many English merchantmen, and seriously crippling Great Britain's whale-shipping in the Pacific. His vessel, the Essex, was blockaded in 1813 in Valparaiso Harbor by two English vessels, which he offered to fight either singly or together. This offer having been refused, he attempted to make a dash for the open sea, but his ship was severely damaged by a squall, and he put back, anchoring a half mile off the shore, and three miles from the town. There the English, regardless of neutrality laws, attacked him, and after a struggle of two and a half hours, one of the fiercest in naval history, compelled him to surrender. He described the situation in a com
munication to the Secretary of the Navy by saying, uWe have been unfortunate, but not disgraced,' and upon his return he was voted the thanks of Congress and several State legis latures, and received with much distinction, He was sent in 1824, being then a commodore, to operate against pirates in the West Indies. An officer sent by bun to make.an investigation at Fajardo, Porto Rico, was seized and imprisoned. Porter compelled the Spanish authorities to apologize for the act ; was deemed to have exceeded his authority; and was suspended for six months by court-martial. On 18 Aug. 1826 he resigned his commission, and became rear admiral in the Mexican service. From this, too, he resigned in 1829; and later was consul general to the Barbary states and charge d'affaires at Constantinople. Among his writ ings are 'Journal of a Cruise Made to the Pacifick Ocean' (1815), and 'Constantinople and its Environs) (1835). Consult (Trial of Com modore David Porter before a Court-Martial) (1825) ; Porter, D. D., of Commodore David Porter' (1875).