"His early youth was conspicuous for skill and gallantry in the naval services of the United States when the American arms were exercised with romantic chivalry before the battlements of Tripoli. He was on all occasions among the bravest of the brave; zealous in the performance of every duty; ardent and resolute in the trying hour of calamity; composed and steady in the blaze of victory."
JAMES OTIS.
WITH PORTER IN THE ESSEX
WITH PORTER IN THE ESSEX.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCING MYSELF.
An awkward, raw-boned lad of fourteen was I when an opportunity came to enlist as a boy on board the Essex, a United States frigate of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain David Porter. My desire ever had been to join the navy, in which my cousin, Stephen Decatur McKnight, had already won much of glory and a commission; it was through him that I was finally able to satisfy my longings, which had increased from year to year until it seemed as if I could be content in no other sphere of action than that of serving my country upon the ocean.