hly trained as boarders that
every man was prepared for such an emergency, with his cutlass as sharp
as a razor, a dirk made from a file by the ship's armorer, and a
pistol." With a ship well refitted and with a crew thus perfectly
drilled, Porter had done all that in him lay in the way of preparation
for victory. If he did not win, he would at least deserve to do so. For
Farragut it is interesting to notice that, in his tender youth and most
impressible years, he had before him, both in his captain and in his
ship, most admirable models. The former daring to recklessness, yet
leaving nothing to chance; fearless of responsibility, but ever
sagacious in its exercise; a rigid disciplinarian, who yet tempered
rigor by a profound knowledge of and sympathy with the peculiarities of
the men who were under him. The latter--the ship--became, as ships under
strong captains tend to become, the embodiment of the commander's
spirit. Thoroughly prepared and armed at all points, she was now
advancing at the close of her career to an audacious encounter with a
greatly superior force. Whether the enterprise was justifiable or not,
at least nothing that care could do to insure success was left to chance
or to favor. Porter might perhaps have quitted the Pacific in December,
1813, and, reaching the United States coast in the winter, have escaped
the blockade which at that season was necessarily relaxed. By doing so
he might have saved his ship; but the United States Navy would have lost
one of the most brilliant pages in its history, and its future admiral
one of the most glorious episodes in his own great career.

On the 12th of January, 1814, the Essex arrived off the coast of Chile,
making the land well to the southward--that is, to windward--of
Valparaiso. From this point of arrival she ran slowly to the northward,
looking into the old town of Concepcion, between two and three hundred
miles from Valparaiso. In the latter port she anchored on the 3d of
February. The ordinary salutes and civilities with the authorities
having been exchanged, every effort was made to get the ship ready for
sea, the Essex Junior being employed cruising off the port so as to give
timely notice of the approach of an enemy; a precaution necessary at all
times, even in a neutral port, but especially so at a period when
neutral rights were being openly disregarded in every direction by both
the great belligerents, France and Great Britain. Moreover, Captain
H