6

of the navy, and it required a great deal of forbearance in a high-spirited youth to control his temper under the abuse to which he was often subjected. Notwithstanding Midshipman Porter's ambition to make his way in the navy, he was several times on the point of resigning. Upon one occasion he told Captain Truxtun that his tyranny was more than he could bear, whereupon the honest-hearted old seaman took him by the hand and said: My boy, you shall never leave the navy if I can help it; why, you young dog, every time I swear at you, you go up a round in the ladder of promotion, and when Mr. Rodgers blows you up it is because he loves you and don't want you to become too conceited.' Porter finally became much attached to Truxtun and Rodgers, and their mutual friendship terminated only with their lives." 1

Truxtun issued an address to his midshipmen which reveals a lively interest in the service and in the young men who were to be the officers of the future. After enjoining obedience to superiors, he says: "In doing your duty, while vigilance is required of you, civility to those under you is desired and expected. From examples in civil life and in the education many of you have had, it will, I am sure, be grateful to you to consider men in an inferior station as your fellow creatures, and when they do their duty with your cheerfulness to encourage them, always remembering that rigid discipline and good 1 Porter, pp. 23, 24.

order are very different from tyranny- the one highly necessary and the other abominable and disgraceful to the character of an officer.... Persevere always, and struggle against all your seeming difficulties. Learn to be seamen of the first order. Each of you calculate and prepare yourselves to be Admirals and to command the American fleet. Learn to rig and unrig, to hand, reef, and steer, and to navigate a ship scientifically, and to perform every sort of duty belonging to the highest and the lowest orders of seamen and sea officers. Make yourselves also acquainted with the construction of all sorts of vessels and the general principles of mechanics. Do not fail to pay the closest attention to Naval Tactics, which you can never know properly until you become mathematicians: consequently, till then, fighting in a line of battle and manœuvres will always appear to you a confused business. I shall always have pleasure in giving encouragement and instruction to you or such of you as I see merit it, and such as do not I shall have equal pleasure in getting rid of as speedily as possible.'

The last general order issued by the Navy Department in 1799 was dated December 20: "The President with deep affliction announces to the Navy and to the Marines the death of our beloved fellow citizen, George Washington, Commander of our armies and late President of the United States, but rendered more illustrious by his eminent virtues and 1 Wadsworth MSS.

a long series of most important services than by the honors which his grateful country delighted to confer upon him. Desirous that the Navy and Marines should express, in common with every other description of American citizens, the high sense which all feel of the loss our country has sustained in the death of this good and great man, the President directs that the vessels of the Navy, in our own and foreign ports, be put in mourning for one week by wearing their colors half-mast high; and that the officers of the Navy and of Marines wear crape on the left arm below the elbow for six months." 1

1 Nav. Chron. p. 140.

CHAPTER VII

THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR

ON New Year's day, 1800, the schooner Experiment, which had recently arrived on the San Domingo station, lay becalmed in the Bight of Leogane, off the north shore of the island of Gonaive, with a convoy of four merchantmen. The schooner was commanded by Lieutenant William Maley, and her first lieutenant was David Porter, who had been promoted and transferred from the Constellation. The crew of the Experiment numbered seventy. Consul-General Stevens was a passenger on board, and the next day made a report to Commodore Talbot, which tells this story:

"At 7 o'clock in the morning, being becalmed in the middle of the channel, we were attacked by ten barges manned with negroes and mulattoes and armed with muskets, sabres, and boarding pikes. Several of the barges carried cannon of four pounds and swivels in the bow; and from the most accurate calculation I could make, the whole number of people on board of them amounted to about four or five hundred, the larger ones carrying 60 or 70 and the smaller ones 40 or 50. They rowed towards us with great eagerness from Trou Covert [a small islet] until they came within long gunshot of the convoy,

when they divided into several small squadrons with intention to board each of the vessels. Captain Maley had made the best possible arrangement for receiving them. The guns of the Experiment being sealed and her ports shut, they could not distinguish her from the merchantmen under her convoy, but approached her with the same degree of boldness that they did the rest. When they came within musketshot of the convoy they commenced a very heavy fire from their great guns and musketry, which was instantly returned by the Experiment, the brig Daniel and Mary, and the schooner Sea Flower. Our grape-shot and small arms made dreadful havoc among them, and obliged them to retire out of the reach of our guns. In this situation they lay on their oars for the space of half an hour, examining us and consulting what measure they should adopt.

"They then rowed towards the island of Gonaib, fired a gun, and were joined by some other barges from the shore, which took out the dead and wounded from those that had been in the engagement and brought off a reinforcement of men. After they had continued thus recruiting their forces for an hour and a half, they hoisted their masts and sails and divided into three squadrons of four barges each. The centre division, consisting of the largest barges, displayed red pendants from the mast heads, while the van and the rear kept the tri-colored flag still flying. In this order they rowed towards our bow with great boldness and velocity; and from their