John Downes was born on December 23, 1784 in Canton, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Jesse and Naomi (Taunt) Downes. His grandfather, Edward Downes, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War and his greatgrandfather, of the same name, who emigrated to Canton from Ireland, was a seafaring adventurer.
Entering the navy as a waiter to his father, who served as a purser’s steward on the Constitution, John was in September 1800 appointed acting midshipman; and in June 1802, midshipman.
During the war with Tripoli he served in the Mediterranean and in 1803 participated in Lieut. David Porter’s attack on the Tripolitans, being commended for his gallantry in that fight.
In 1807 he was promoted to a lieutenancy and two years later was ordered to the Essex, Capt. David Porter.
As first lieutenant on that ship he sailed on Oct. 28, 1812, from the Delaware Capes on what proved to be the most memorable cruise of the War of 1812.
In April 1813, in the boats of the Essex, he captured in the Pacific two British vessels, of one of which, the Georgiana, he took command after she had been fitted out as a cruiser.
In June near James Island he captured the Hector, a privateer of eleven guns, and two other ships. In the meantime Porter had taken the Atlantic, renamed the Essex Junior, and to her Downes transferred his flag, as she was a larger vessel than the Georgiana.
On her he cruised for several months, either alone or in company with his commodore.
At the island of Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas group, where the fleet was refitted, he had two sharp encounters with natives, when ashore in command of landing parties. In one of these, he suffered a broken leg. In the bloody engagement of the Essex and the Essex Junior with the Phoebe and Cherub, Downes, although still suffering from his wound, played a gallant part. He was highly commended by the secretary of the navy for his services in the Pacific.
In 1813 he was made a master commandant, and four years later, a captain.
In May 1815, Downes sailed for Algiers as commander of the Epervier, one of the vessels of Commodore Decatur’s squadron.
In the capture of the Algerine frigate Meshuda he maneuvered his vessel so skilfully that he received the praise of his commodore and was shortly placed in command of the flagship of the squadron.
In 1818 he was ordered to the Macedonian and cruised for several years in the Pacific.
After a tour of duty on the Java of the Mediterranean station, 182830, he was given command of the frigate Potomac and of the Pacific station and was ordered to proceed thither by way of Quallah Battoo, Sumatra, and to obtain satisfaction from the piratical Malays at that place for the outrage they had recently committed on the American vessel Friendship. Downes reached Quallah Battoo in February 1832. Landing his sailors and marines, he stormed the town and destroyed the greater part of it.
This battle, the first American action in the Orient, lasted two hours and a half and resulted in a loss to the Americans of two killed and eleven wounded, and to the Malays of 150 killed. The cruise of the Potomac, which came to an end in 1834, was Downes’s last sea service.
From 1835 to 1842 and again from 1849 to 1852 he served as commandant of the Boston navy-yard.
In 1843-45 he was port captain at Boston and in 1852-53 he was a lighthouse inspector.
On October 30, 1821 Downes married Maria Gertrude Hoffman at Upper Red Hook, New York. Their son, John Downes, was an officer in the navy, rising to the rank of commander.
