not till
the 15th that the anchor was dropped in Valparaiso. Despite the cordial
reception given, Porter was in haste to reach his scene of action in the
North and sailed again on the 22d. Four days later he met a Peruvian
privateer, the Nereyda, the captain of which was deceived by the Essex
hoisting British colors. Coming on board the frigate, he stated freely
that the Spaniards considered themselves the allies of Great Britain,
that he was himself cruising for American whalers, and had on board at
the moment the crews of two of these which he had taken. Having
extracted all the information he wanted, Porter undeceived the
privateersman, took possession of the ship, threw overboard her guns
and ammunition, and then released her, with a letter to the Viceroy;
which, backed by the presence of the Essex, was calculated to insure
peaceable treatment to American vessels.

There were at this time on the coast of Peru and in the neighboring
waters twenty-three American whalers, worth, with their cargoes, two and
a half million dollars, and mostly unarmed, having left home in a time
of peace. Of English ships there were twenty; but, their country having
been long at war, these were generally armed, and in many cases provided
with letters of marque authorizing them to act as privateers and capture
vessels hostile to their Crown. In this state of things, so unpromising
for American interests, the arrival of the Essex entirely turned the
scales, besides stopping the Spanish depredations which had but just
begun.

On the 27th of March, off the harbor of Callao, the port of Lima, Porter
recaptured the Barclay, one of the American ships seized by the Nereyda;
but, although the frigate again disguised her nationality by hoisting
British colors, there was among the several vessels in the harbor only
one that showed the same flag. With the Barclay in company, the Essex
now stood away for the Galapagos Islands. These are a group situated
just south of the equator and some five hundred miles from the South
American coast. Uninhabited then, as for the most part they still are,
they were in 1813 a favorite rendezvous for British whalers, who had
established upon one of the islands (Charles) a means of communication
by a box nailed to a tree, which was called the post-office. They abound
in turtle, some of which weigh several hundred pounds, and form a very
valuable as well as acceptable change of diet to seamen long confined to
salt foo