CHAPTER II.

OCCUPATION OF MADISON ISLAND IN THE WAR OF 1812.

One of the most interesting American episodes in the Pacific is the formal occupation of Madison Island by Captain David Porter in 1813, while he was engaged in protecting American whaling interests in that vicinity.

Before the declaration of war with England in 1812, American whalemen on the coast of Peru often suffered from the piratical acts of Peruvian privateers, who also cut them out from Chile ports where they had gone to recruit.' J. R. Poinsett, of South Carolina, was sent to remonstrate, but when the Anglo-American war began, he found that the corsairs, as a fresh pretext for plunder, claimed they were allies of England.' Learning that an expedition sent by the authorities of Lima had captured Concepcion and Talcahuano, and that at the latter place a Limian armament of two men-of-war and 1500 troops was detaining many American vessels, he resolved to resort to stronger measures than those of diplomacy. Joining the Chilean army, he directed its movements until the enemy was driven from the town and the whalemen released. Though Lima yielded to muskets and cannon, her depredations did not entirely cease until the arrival of Captain Porter in the United States frigate Essex, the first United States ship-of-war to spread her sails in the Pacific.

On October 6, 1812, Porter had received his orders for

1 Alex. Starbuck: History of the American Whale Fishery. 2 Porter: Journal of a Cruise in the Pacific, 1812-14. N. Y.,

a long cruise. After reaching the South Atlantic, he had learned that the people in Buenos Ayres were starving, and unable to supply his wants, and that Montevideo was invincible. He at once shaped his course for the Pacific, and on March 15 landed at Valparaiso, where he was astonished to learn that Chile had declared her independence from Spain, and that the viceroy of Peru had sent out cruisers against American shipping."

Porter's appearance in the Pacific was of great importance to American whaling interests. He at once proceeded to destroy unfriendly vessels, and to break up the British whale fisheries off the coast of Chile and Peru. After capturing British property worth two and a half million dollars, and 360 British seamen, whom he liberated on parole, he decided to seek a place of safety where he could put his ship in a condition to return home, and, at the same time, give his men some amusement.

Sailing to the group discovered by Ingraham in 1791, he anchored at Madison Island (Nukuhiva, or Sir Henry Martin's Island), which he proceeded to occupy for the United States, and to conquer and make them tributary to the United States by the request and assistance of the friendly tribes. He built Fort Madison (4 guns) and a village which he called Madisonville. The waters where he anchored, he named Massachusetts bay. In taking formal occupation on November 19, 1813, Porter declared that the natives by their own request, and in order to render secure the United States claim to the island, were adopted into the great American family; and that they, on their part, had promised to give welcome hospitality and protection to American citizens who visited the islands; and also to endeavor to prevent subjects of Great Britain from coming among them during the continuation of the War of 1812. In his declaration, which he read, he said: “Our rights

3

Navy Dept. Tracts, vol. xiv, No. 22; Essex Inst. Hist. Coll., vol. x. Salem, 1870.

to this island being founded on priority of discovery, conquest and possession, cannot be disputed . . . Influenced by considerations of humanity, which promise speedy civilization . . as well as by views of policy, which secure to my country a fruitful and populous island, possessing every advantage of security and supplies for vessels, and which, of all others, is the most happily situated, as respects climate and local position, I do declare that I have in the most solemn manner, under the American flag displayed at Fort Madison, and in the presence of numerous witnesses, taken possession of said island, called Madison Island, for the use of the United States. ; and that the act of taking possession was announced by seventeen guns. . . . And that our claim to this island may not hereafter be disputed, I have buried in a bottle, at the foot of the flagstaff in Fort Madison, a copy of this instrument, together with several pieces of money, the coin of the United States.' This deed was signed by Porter, nine United States naval officers and others.

While on the island the American forces intervened to secure peace between the natives, and joined the friendly tribes in their wars against the Happahs.

On December 13, Porter sailed for Valparaiso, leaving Lieut. Gamble in command with four prize ships, twentyone marines and six prisoners. He reported that he had completely broken up British navigation on the Pacific, and injured her navigation to the extent of two and onehalf million dollars. In the following March, however, after a desperate encounter outside the port, watched by thousands of witnesses from surrounding hills, he was compelled to surrender to Commodore Hillyar, of the British navy, who had recently arrived with the Phoebe and the

5

4 Capt. D. Porter: Journal of a Cruise to the Pacific in 1812-14. N. Y., 1822.

5

Poinsett, during the engagement, requested the Governor of Valparaiso to protect the Essex, but his request was not granted. He left the country soon after.

Cherub. He and part of his crew, on parole, were allowed to sail for New York on the Essex, Junior. Several of the crew of the Essex, who were left at Valparaiso, enlisted in the "patriot" army at Santiago.

Gamble found his stay at Madison Island far from pleasant. His life was rendered miserable by rains and squalls, and by the character of his crew, some of whom were worthless and ready to desert at every opportunity. He was also much troubled by the natives, who showed signs of attack and soon began to kill the swine left by Porter. Threats of devastation being insufficient to prevent theft by some of the natives, he found it necessary to attack and chasten them. After they had fled and the chiefs offered to replace the swine, he asked an indemnity for his trouble and also demanded the surrender of the thieves, whom the chiefs claimed they could not apprehend, but finally closed the affair by exacting a promise of future vigilance. Later, when intertribal quarrels and wars were renewed, he successfully restored tranquillity by intervention. Supplies becoming precarious, he sailed to other islands to barter iron for swine and vegetables, and at almost every place he landed the natives asked his aid in intertribal wars which had arisen chiefly over fishery regulations or property. But he had enough to engage his attention in watching and punishing his own men, who went to sleep on watch, or permitted the clandestine visits of female natives, or left camp without permission or under pretence of washing their clothes at a distant brook. Early in May, seven men on deck defiantly refused to work, bound and imprisoned Gamble and others, hoisted the English flag, spiked the guns at the fort, took the powder and other materials and set sail. Gamble again had reason to become alarmed at the natives, who began to repeat their thefts and finally attacked the ships, massacring four midshipmen.

Burning one of his vessels, with seven men and a leaky ship without a boat or anchor, he sailed to Owyhee (Hawaii) for supplies and men. In June, after he had

started to return to Valparaiso, he was captured by the British warship Cherub. Reaching Valparaiso (on September 23), where he was entertained by the American viceconsul, Blanco, he heard the strange news that Wellington had been sent to the United States with 20,000 troops and created Emperor of North America! He finally arrived at New York in August, 1815.

Though Madison Island was afterwards recommended as a convenient location for a naval and supply station, the United States never took any step toward occupation.

Porter published an account of his experience in the Pacific, in which he described the natives and made numerous references to the beauty and grace of the native women, who roamed at pleasure and were promiscuous in their intercourse with the sailors. The English Quarterly Review ridiculed him for occupying the island, and severely criticised him for his voluptuous descriptions of the island beauties, and for the freedom which he permitted between them and the sailors, as well as for cruelty to the natives. Porter, in reply, after stating that Ingraham's discovery of 1791 gave the United States a just claim to the island, referred to the license of the sailors under Captain Cook and others, and to previous writers, who had described feasts with native women. In defending himself from the charge of cruelty, he presented the British record in the Pacific on that score, and stated that men away from law and in danger, must judge of the means of safety and act according to circumstances. He declared that the safety of his ships, prizes and men depended upon maintaining a position on the island, and that it was necessary to conciliate the natives by joining them against their enemies.