America's Naval History In The Pacific

China, whose Navy in the 15th century was once among the most powerful in the Far East, is laying the foundations of a powerful naval force to defend its ascending economic interests. Recently, Admiral Robert F. Willard of the US Pacific Command (PACOM) said that he believes the Chinese navy will launch an aircraft carrier between now and 2015 (extending the country's airpower over long distances), and two years ago, a Chinese submarine came within missile range of the USS Kitty Hawk, triggering a 28-hour standoff. While some commentators believe China poses no immediate threat, the country is clearly flexing its muscle. It is, therefore, an opportune time to look back at America's naval history in the Pacific. Just when were the seeds planted that led to the nation's overwhelming superiority in that region?

When USS Essex rounded Cape Horn in February of 1813 to raid British merchant shipping, there was more at stake than victory in the War of 1812. No US warship had ever sailed into the Pacific, an area rich in whales, furs, minerals, and other commodities waiting to be discovered. There was good money to be made by the financiers, traders, and ship captains of the young American democracy, but it was not going to be easy. Competition among seafaring nations to exploit the resources was stiff. Merchant vessels that wanted to do business unmolested needed naval protection.

While Porter's raiding mission would ultimately end in defeat, his cruise was important nonetheless in establishing a US naval presence in the Pacific. Not only were more and more of America's merchant men rounding the Horn, but the country's citizens were making their way over the mountains to the Pacific coast. Moreover, claims to lands along the eastern Pacific, from the Oregon territory to Chile, were either vague or being challenged. If the United States wanted a piece of this rich pie, it would be essential that her navy show her flag in the waters on the Pacific side of the continent.

By the turn of the 19th century, much of the territory along the eastern Pacific had been claimed by Spain, though that nation's hold on these New World lands was tenuous at best. Revolutionary forces in South America and Mexico were opposing Spanish rule, and European nations were testing Spain's claims. Led by the explorations of Vitus Bering in 1728, the Russians sailed down from Alaska, searching for furs. Spurred on by the cruises of James Cook in the 1760s and 70s, the English were laying claim to the Northwest Territory and scrutinizing the missions established by Spain along the California coast. British explorer George Vancouver, after dropping anchor in San Diego Bay in November 1793, marveled not only at the possibilities of commerce with the local mission, but its lack of protection by Spanish troops. The Spanish, Vancouver said, "have thrown irresistible temptations in the way of strangers to trespass over their boundary".

American's merchant princes were also seeking new markets. The closing of England's Caribbean ports to US vessels following the Revolutionary War sent many captains around the Horn to open trade with China. Manchuria is a cold province, and its wealthy residents paid top dollar for otter pelts to keep them warm. For American traders, huge gains of between 200 and 500 percent per voyage were being made in what was called the "triple golden round of profits." Through this route, US merchantmen traded guns, textiles, and trinkets to the Northwest Indians for furs and then exchanged those furs at Canton for tea, nankeens, china wear, and silks. The latter goods were sold in America for cash. The mansions of Boston and other New England cities today testify to the success of the men who financed and captained these expeditions. And furs weren't the only thing luring trading vessels to the Pacific. There were hides and tallow from California, sandalwood from Hawaii, guano from the Chincha Islands off Peru, and whaling around the Galapagos Islands.

Given the richness of opportunity, it is little wonder that when Essex Captain David Porter rounded the Horn, he came with a view more expansive than raiding British shipping. Porter was a forward-looking man who realized the importance of the Pacific to America sooner than most men of his day. After the end of the War of 1812, for example, he would ask President James Madison for permission to lead a naval expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean and even suggested opening relations with Japan. This was almost 40 years before Captain Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853.

Revolutions and competing interests made for heady times along the South American coas — thus when Porter entered Valparaiso Bay in March 1813, he did so under British colors. Chile was a Spanish possession, and Spain was aligned in the Napoleonic Wars with Great Britain. After dropping anchor, however, Porter received news that the Chileans, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, had declared their own independence. Though Chile would not gain lasting independence until 1818, Porter could only have been elated. He had taken a great risk in sailing into the eastern Pacific, where the United States possessed no naval yards, and friendly ports were potentially few. Now, at Valparaiso, he could re-provision and repair his vessel after a long and harrowing passage around the Horn, and stake out the situation for his country.

The Chilean rebel junta was particularly happy to see Porter, believing the United States had sent a frigate in support of their cause. Porter and the US Consul at Valparaiso, Joel R. Poinsett, did little to dispel this notion. Poinsett had been dispatched to South America to expand US influence in the southern hemisphere. Arriving in Chile in December 1811, he had been well-received by the junta. He encouraged independence, gave advice on constitutional and commercial questions, and even participated in skirmishes against Chilean loyalists, no doubt a violation of neutrality.

There is also some evidence that Porter, too, promised to use Essex to support the rebels. The two Americans, it seems, had their sights fixed on economic possibilities beyond the War of 1812. Friendly aid to South American revolutionaries now could result in favorable trade policies when these countries finally gained their independence. American naval captains like Porter made an acceptable salary, though their pay was often reduced by the expectation that they had to entertain distinguished visitors aboard their ship at their own expense. Thus, captains were anxious to augment their pay by capturing enemy vessels and through other forms of service to their country.

Soon after the local Chilean governor feted the Essex officers at a ball, Porter and his crew departed and quickly illustrated what even a small naval presence could do in the far flung reaches of the Pacific. On March 23, Essex met up with Charles, a Nantucket whaler, whose captain told Porter that his ship had been attacked by a hostile vessel and released, only after paying ransom. The following day, Porter located the perpetrator of the depredation, a 15-gun Peruvian cruiser by the name of Nereyda. Unlike other Spanish territories, Peru remained a Loyalist stronghold, allegiant to Spain and, through treaty, aligned with the British.

Nereyda was a sloop disguised as a whaler, though the crafty Porter had prepared his own disguise: Essex was again flying British colors. When a lieutenant from Nereyda came aboard Essex, he informed Porter that he had captured two other American whalers (in addition to Charles) and was searching for more. The seizures amounted to a rich haul because the whalers were just about to sail for home laden with whale oil and spermaceti. In addition, the crews of these two vessels were imprisoned aboard the Peruvian cruiser.

After hearing this news, Porter hoisted the stars and stripes and fired two shots over the bow of Nereyda, which immediately struck her colors. In one swift move, Porter had liberated two crews and captured a hostile ship bent on making life miserable for American merchantmen. In disposing of Nereyda, however, Porter had to exercise caution. America did not need war with the Spanish when the country had its hands full with England. In lieu of claiming the Peruvian cruiser as a prize, Porter ordered her armaments thrown into the sea and sent the ship to Callao with a letter to the viceroy calling the ship's attack on American whaling "piratical."

Over the next year, Porter and his crew captured a dozen British whalers, which were no match for the 32-gun, 850-ton frigate, built in Salem, Massachusetts in 1799. (In addition to being the first US warship to round the Horn, Essex was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope on her maiden voyage to Jakarta in 1800.) Some prizes were turned into supply and consort vessels, while others were dispatched to British-held ports as prisoner cartels. Porter also sent several ships filled with whale oil around the Horn, which he hoped to get condemned at US prize courts. After the vessels and cargo were auctioned off, Porter and his crew would split half the proceeds with the US government-or so Porter hoped. In reality, none of his prizes made it home. All were recaptured.

The British soon got wind of Porter's actions and decided to go after him. As was pointed out, the English were also competing for influence in the Pacific and had been keeping a close eye on the activities of the United States, from the mouth of the Columbia River all the way south to the coast of South America. Assigned the task of hunting down Essex was HMS Phoebe, a 36-gun frigate under the command of Captain James Hillyar. Phoebe was en route to the Northwest Territory — where England had decided to challenge US claims to the area by destroying the American-held Fort Astoria — when Hillyar, arriving in Rio de Janeiro, heard of Porter's raids.

To ensure success, two more vessels were added to the Astoria mission — the sloops Racoon, 26 and Cherub, 18 — in the event the tiny squadron should meet up with Essex. The mission remained the same: to proceed to the Northwest to "protect and render every assistance in your power to the British traders from Canada, and to destroy, and if possible totally annihilate any settlements which the Americans may have formed either on the Columbia River or on the neighboring Coasts." But also to keep an eye out for Essex.

By the time the British ships rounded the Horn and sailed north to the equator in October 1813, Hillyar had heard more about the havoc created by Essex. He modified his plans, deciding to cruise the area with Cherub in search of Porter, while Racoon was dispatched to complete the original mission.

The events in the Pacific Northwest, at least in the short term, ended badly for the Americans. Protecting Fort Astoria, established in 1811 by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, proved impossible. Hearing rumors of the impending arrival of British warship, and unable to get support from the US Navy (whose warships were locked into ports along the eastern seaboard by the large Royal Navy), Astor's men sold their enterprise to the English.

The story also ended unsuccessfully for David Porter. After refreshing his crew and refitting his ships during the winter of 1813-14 at the Marquesas Islands, he sailed back to Valparaiso looking for battle with the British, whom he heard were searching for him. In addition to being enterprising, Porter might be described as audacious, even foolhardy, for he sought out his pursuers even though he was outnumbered and uncomfortable with his ship's armament. During a refit in 1809-10, most of Essex's 12-pound long guns had been removed for 32- pound carronades — short, squat cannons capable of delivering a heavy shot, but only at a short distance. Porter had complained several times to the Secretary of the Navy, arguing that if his ship were disabled in her rigging during battle, the enemy could pull away to a point where its long guns could reach Essex, but her carronade shots would fall far short. The requested modifications were never made.

Porter indeed found Phoebe and Cherub at Valparaiso, though, with Chile in the midst of civil war, Porter and Hillyar agreed to consider the city a neutral port. A month-long cat and mouse game ensued, during which time Porter issued one-on-one challenges to Hillyar, which were refused.

On 28 March 1814, hearing that more British men-of-war were on their way to seal him into Valparaiso, Porter decided to make a break for it. As Essex raced out of the harbor, a squall struck the ship and carried away her main topmast — the result of carrying a heavy press of sail so as to beat her enemies to sea. Porter's only option now was to repair his mast. He anchored in a bay three miles north of the city and, in his own words, "within pistol shot [a few hundred yards] of the shore." His plan to repair Essex in what he considered neutral waters was jettisoned when he saw the enemy ships bearing down with their guns bristling.

Porter cleared the decks for action, but his complaint about carronades proved prophetic: The British stayed out of range of his carronades while pounding Essex to pieces. After 21/2 hours, the Americans struck their flag. The decks of Essex were covered in blood. Half the ship's crew of 250 would die. A month after the battle, Porter and his surviving crew were paroled aboard one of the captured whalers and sailed to New York. Essex was eventually commissioned into the Royal Navy, but never saw action again. Instead, she was sailed to Ireland and converted into a prison hulk.

Before Porter had returned to Valparaiso from the Marquesas, however, he did one thing which again showed his foresight in Pacific affairs. He claimed the Marquesas Islands as a US possession, renaming them Madison's Islands, in honor of the newly-reelected president. He believed the Marquesas, a series of 10 small islands located 5,000 miles northwest of Valparaiso, might provide for American warships and merchantmen a secure and familiar place to put in for refreshment, refitting, and supplies. During his raiding cruise, Porter mostly had had to live by his wits, repairing his vessel and feeding his crew with the provisions of captured whalers.

The US government did not ratify Porter's annexation, despite his later attempts to remind the government of the importance of his claim. The United States was more concerned with territorial expansion on its own continent and more focused on the possibilities of Hawaii as a weigh station for American ships. France, interested in expanding its own interests in the Pacific, took possession of the Marquesas in 1842. The islands are today a part of French Polynesia.

Neither the defeat at Valparaiso nor America's failure to follow through on Porter's Marquesas claim ended American influence in the Pacific. US merchantmen continued to ply those waters in search of profits, and American warships followed in their wake to protect them.

The 20-gun sloop Ontario, under command of James Biddle, arrived in the Pacific in 1817. Biddle's mission was to reclaim land in the Pacific Northwest being returned to the United States by the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. On his way up the South American coast, Biddle sailed into Valparaiso to find that the Loyalists had seized American merchantmen, whose captains were accused of running a blockade. Even worse, the Rebels, no doubt disregarding Poinsett's assistance, were impressing US seamen into their army. Biddle negotiated an end to Loyalist ship seizures, but had less luck with Rebels. He then sailed off to the Northwest for the transfer of land. Still, impressed upon Biddle, as it had been with Porter, was the importance of a US naval presence in the Pacific.

Other missions followed: John Downes, Porter's first lieutenant aboard Essex, sailed in 1818 to the eastern Pacific, where he established the Navy's second cruising station. (The first was in the Mediterranean.) Other cruises followed, led by Captains Charles Stewart, Isaac Hull and Jacob Jones, as the importance of Pacific trade grew. By the 1830s, 30 percent of US merchant vessels were engaged in China trade. Downes would return to the Pacific in 1832 in the frigate Potomac to punish Sumatrans for murdering the American sailors of a pepper trading ship.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the US Navy was called upon to play a broader role in the Pacific. There were many factors involved, among them: Captain Charles Wilkes's four year cruise (1838-42) that explored vast reaches of the Pacific Ocean, as well as Antarctica; the trickle, and later, deluge of settlers to lands in Oregon and California; the opening of trade with Japan in the 1850s; the eventuality of cutting a canal through Central America that would drastically shorten the time needed to get goods from eastern ports to the west; and the need for coaling stations throughout the Pacific to handle the rise in steam shipping. Throughout this period, US naval presence waxed and waned, often dependent upon politics and interests in Washington, DC. At certain times, US squadrons were utterly shabby, consisting of outdated wind ships and screw-sloops in dire need of overhaul. Nevertheless, the general trend was toward growth and respectability. Admiral George Dewey's victories in the Philippines in the Spanish-American War established the United States as a major naval power in the Pacific. By the 1920s, when Japan's hunger for an empire raised a threat to US interests, the major portion of the US Navy was shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific. World War II brought hundreds of warships (including the aircraft carrier Essex) into the Pacific to win decisive battles at Midway, Leyte and the Coral Sea.

Today, the US Navy's Pacific Fleet is a huge force, consisting of 125,000 sailors and marines, 1,500 aircraft, and 180 vessels, among them the latest (and fifth) incarnation of Essex, a 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship based in Sasebo, Japan. The seeds of this impressive force were planted in 1813-14, when Captain David Porter rounded the Horn on the frigate Essex.

James Vescovi. US Navy Enters the Pacific. History Magazine. February/March 2010.

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