Following a summer during which Captain David Porter and USS Essex captured a dozen British whaling ships in the eastern Pacific, Porter sailed west to continue his work destroying British commerce. Additionally, Essex had been at sea for nearly a year and needed caulking, and her copper bottom was wearing off and required repairs. Perhaps more importantly, the ship’s hold was infested with rats who destroyed the provisions and Essex could not r…
This story is only covered by news sources that have yet to be evaluated by the independent media monitoring agencies we use to assess the quality and reliability of news outlets on our platform. Learn more here.