of the town or of the surrounding country.
During the winter of 1798 to 1799 the sleds of all the farmers in the
neighborhood were employed bringing in the timber for the frames and
planking of the new ship. The rigging was manufactured by the three
ropewalks then in the place, each undertaking one mast; and the sails
were of cloth so carefully selected and so admirably cut that it was
noticed the frigate never again sailed so well as with this first suit.
When the rope cables, which alone were then used by ships instead of the
chains of the present day, were completed, the workmen took them upon
their shoulders and marched with them in procession to the vessel,
headed by a drum and fife. The building of the Essex was thus an effort
of city pride and local patriotism; and the launch, which took place on
the 30th of September, 1799, became an occasion of general rejoicing and
holiday, witnessed by thousands of spectators and greeted by salutes
from the battery and shipping. The new frigate measured 850 tons, and
cost, independent of guns and stores, somewhat over $75,000. Her battery
in her early history was composed of twenty-six long twelve-pounders on
the main deck, with sixteen thirty-two-pound carronades and two chase
guns on the deck above. At a later day, and during the cruise under
Porter, this was changed to forty thirty-two-pound carronades and six
long twelves. This battery, though throwing a heavier weight, was of
shorter range than the former; and therefore, though advantageous to a
ship able to choose her position, was a fatal source of weakness to a
slow or crippled vessel, as was painfully apparent in the action where
the Essex was lost.

Notwithstanding the zeal and emulation aroused by the appeal to Salem
municipal pride, and notwithstanding the comparative rapidity with
which ships could then be built, the Essex in her day illustrated the
folly of deferring preparation until hostilities are at hand. The first
French prize was taken in June, 1798, but it was not till December 22d
of the following year that the Essex sailed out of Salem harbor,
commanded then by Edward Preble, one of the most distinguished officers
of the early American navy. Newport was her first port of arrival. From
there she sailed again on the 6th of January, 1800, in company with the
frigate Congress, both being bound for Batavia, whence they were to
convoy home a fleet of merchant ships; for in the predatory warfare
encouraged by