With Porter in the Essex

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Otis James. With Porter in the Essex

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCING MYSELF

CHAPTER II. THE COAST OF CHILI

CHAPTER III. OLIVER BENSON'S SCHEME

CHAPTER IV. AMONG THE WHALERS

CHAPTER V. THE NEW FLEET

CHAPTER VI. A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

CHAPTER VII. AN ISLAND PORT

CHAPTER VIII. NUKUHEVA

CHAPTER IX. AN OLD ENEMY

CHAPTER X. AMONG THE TYPEES

CHAPTER XI. A NAVAL STATION

CHAPTER XII. AT VALPARAISO

CHAPTER XIII. THE BRITISHERS

CHAPTER XIV. THE BATTLE

CHAPTER XV. ON PAROLE

Отрывок из книги

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.

War had been declared; once more was it proposed to give England a lesson in good manners; and while that lesson was being taught, I intended to so act my part that when it was finished I might have gained a recognized position among men, even though I was no more than a boy.

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The American Consul General came down from Santiago to greet us; the Chilians strove to show how friendly they felt toward the United States, and there was a great time, in which the officers gathered most of the fun, for ordinary seamen are not counted in at such affairs.

The commissioned officers must have enjoyed themselves in fine style, however, and we of the crew managed to get a small slice of the welcome which repaid all hands for the long, disagreeable voyage.

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