ach to it, thus preventing the
retreat of the Essex to the ocean, unless she could succeed in passing
and then outsailing them. Valparaiso Bay is not an enclosed harbor, but
simply a recess in the coast, which, running generally north and south,
here turns abruptly to the eastward for two or three miles and then
trends north again, leaving thus a concave beach facing the north. Along
this beach lies the city of Valparaiso, stretching back and up on the
hillsides, which rise to a height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet
behind it. The prevailing winds along this coast being from the
southward throughout the year, this formation gives an anchorage
sheltered from them; but during the winter months of the southern
hemisphere, from May to October, there are occasional northerly gales
which endanger shipping, more from the heavy sea that rolls in than from
the violence of the wind. In ordinary weather, at the season when the
Essex was thus blockaded, the harbor is quiet through the night until
the forenoon, when the southerly wind prevailing outside works its way
in to the anchorage and blows freshly till after sundown. At times it
descends in furious gusts down the ravines which cleave the hillsides,
covering the city with clouds of dust and whirling sand and pebbles
painfully in the faces of those who walk the streets.

On the 28th of March, 1814, such a blast descended upon the Essex, whose
captain had by that time come to despair of forcing Hillyar to single
combat. As the frigate straightened out her cables under the force of
the wind, one of them broke, and the anchor of the other lost its hold
upon the bottom. The Essex began to drift to sea, and it was apparent
would by this accident be carried out of reach of the port. Porter
therefore ordered the cable cut and made sail on the ship, intending now
to escape. The British ships kept habitually close to the western point
of the bay; so that in case of such an attempt by their enemy he would
have to pass to leeward of them, giving them a fair wind to follow. As
Porter stood out, however, he thought possible, by keeping close to the
wind, to pass to windward, which, with the superior sailing qualities of
the Essex, would force the Phoebe to separate from the Cherub, unless
Hillyar supinely acquiesced in his escape--an inadmissible supposition.
If successful, he might yet have the single action he desired, and under
conditions which would enable him to choose his distance a