He was born on February 1, 1780 in Boston, Massachussets, United States, the grandson of Alexander Porter, a merchant sea captain, and the eldest of the six children of David Porter (1754 - 1808) and Rebecca (Gay) Porter. The elder David, founder of one of the most noted naval families, was bred to the sea and served during the Revolution as commander of several privateersmen and as first lieutenant of the General Putnam in the Penobscot expedition. He died at New Orleans a sailing master in the navy, an office to which he had been appointed by President Washington.
Education
There is no information about his education.
Career
In 1796 the younger David went to sea with his father, and at Jérémie, Haiti, received his baptism of fire in an encounter with a British man-of-war. After making two subsequent voyages to the West Indies, he entered the navy on April 16, 1798, as a midshipman, and had the good fortune to be on board the Constellation when she captured the Insurgente in the main frigate action of the naval war with France.
Obtaining the rank of a lieutenant on October 8, 1799, he was ordered to the Experiment and took part in several small actions, one of which resulted in the capture of the Deux Amis, which he brought into port as a prize. He was first employed in the war with Tripoli on board the Enterprise as her first lieutenant, and later as her commander. He gallantly led an expedition against the enemy on shore at Tripoli, lost several men, and was twice wounded. He was captured with the unfortunate Philadelphia and suffered a long imprisonment. In 1806 he was promoted master commandant. Soon thereafter he took command of the New Orleans naval station, a post that he filled for two years.
In 1811 he was made commander of the Essex, employed on the Atlantic coast for the protection of merchantmen. His appointment to a captaincy was confirmed by the Senate on July 2, 1812, and on the next day he sailed from New York on a cruise during which he captured nine prizes, including the Alert, the first naval ship taken from the enemy in the War of 1812. In November the Essex again went to sea and early in 1813 rounded Cape Horn and entered the Pacific, being the first naval vessel to display the American colors in those waters. For a time he made his headquarters at the Galapagos Islands and within six months had captured twelve British whalers, retaining one as a store ship and converting another into a naval vessel with his first lieutenant, John Downes, in command.
On receiving news that a small British fleet was expected in the Pacific, Porter became ambitious to signalize his operations with a crowning achievement and sailed for the Marquesas Islands to refit his fleet and make preparations to meet the enemy. One of these islands, Nukahiva, he renamed Madison Island, took possession of it in behalf of the United States, erected thereon Fort Madison and the village of Madison, and admitted its inhabitants into the great American family. By these acts he established his rank as the first imperialist among American naval officers.
After participating in some of the tribal wars of the islanders, he sought the enemy on the coast of Chile and came to anchor in the harbor of Valparaiso, where he was shortly blockaded by the British ships Phoebe and Cherub, of greatly superior force. On March 28, 1813, while attempting to run the blockade, he lost his main topmast in a squall and was forced to fight under great disadvantage and in the end to surrender, losing 155 men out of 225. It was one of the most desperate defenses made by a naval ship in the war.
He was later paroled and returned home in time to participate in the operations on the Potomac in September 1814. Commanding a mixed force of sailors, marines, and militia at White House, Virginia, he harassed the retreating British ships, and suffered a loss of twenty-nine men. In 1815 he was appointed commissioner of the Navy Board, a new naval administrative body in Washington, composed of officers of the highest rank and reputation.
With his prize money, he purchased a farm on the heights directly north of the White House, and erected there a fine, large residence, "Meridian Hill, " which became one of the social centers of official Washington. He adopted farming as an avocation and pursued it eagerly with much pecuniary loss.
He resigned from the navy board in 1823 to become commander-in-chief of the West India Squadron then employed in suppressing piracy, a tedious, laborious, and dangerous task, which he performed so effectively that when he turned over the squadron to his successor this nefarious practice was nearing its end.
In his assiduous search for pirates, one of his officers landed at Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and received ill treatment at the hands of the local authorities. Porter landed a considerable force in retaliation, seized a fort, and demanded and received apologies. For these hostile acts against a friendly power, he was recalled by the secretary of the navy and courtmartialed. Before his trial in the summer of 1825 he wrote disrespectful letters to his superiors and in other ways aggravated his offense. The court sentenced him to suspension from duty for six months, which it softened by adding that it ascribed his conduct to an anxious disposition to maintain the honor of his nation and to advance its interests. He tendered his resignation from the navy, which was accepted on August 18, 1826.
Earlier, he had gone to Mexico, then in revolt against Spain, and had received an offer of employment. He was to be commander-in-chief of the Mexican navy with the rank of general of marine, was to be paid a salary of $12, 000 a year, and was to be granted a large tract of land. He accepted the offer and remained in the Mexican service for three years. The first year he spent in organizing and disciplining the navy; the second, in cruising, chiefly near Key West; and the third, in inaction at Vera Cruz. Intrigued against by Mexican officials, his assassination twice attempted, his salary unpaid, a nephew and a son (subalterns under him) dead he returned to the United States broken in health, his fortune wrecked, but animated by an irrepressible desire to go to Mexico as a United States official and even the score with his enemies.
President Jackson offered him various offices, including a captaincy in the navy, which he declined on the ground that he could never associate with officers who had punished him for upholding the honor of the flag. Finally in 1830 he accepted the consul-general-ship for Algiers. After Algiers had become a French dependency, he was made chargé d'affaires to Turkey, becoming minister in 1839, when the rank of that office was advanced. For twelve years he creditably filled the not very exacting post at Constantinople. Of small frame and a naturally delicate constitution, he was often ill, suffering from yellow fever and finally from angina pectoris.
He was the author of several interesting books, valuable chiefly for their factual information. In 1825 he published several pamphlets relating to his court-martial, and about 1842, a guide-book to Constantinople.
(Hardcover donated from private collection; no markings in...)
Personality
In natural talents and professional attainments, he was superior to most of his contemporaries in the navy. He had fearlessness, impetuosity, and intense antipathies like his friend Andrew Jackson.
Connections
He married Evelina Anderson of Chester, on March 10, 1808, and received as a marriage present from her father a handsome residence in Chester overlooking the Delaware and known as "Greenbank. " He had ten children.