Porter, David (1780-1843), was a United States naval officer who fought in the War of 1812. He was captain of the Essex, which operated in the Pacific Ocean and was the first warship to fly the U.S. flag in those waters. In the war, Porter almost entirely destroyed the British whaling industry in the Pacific. Porter’s informally adopted son, David G. Farragut, who later became the Navy’s first admiral, also made the voyage (see Farragut, David Glasgow ). Later, Porter surrendered to the British ships Cherub and Phoebe. He returned home as a hero and in 1815 became a Navy commissioner.
In 1823, Porter resigned this post to lead an expedition against pirates in the Caribbean region. When one of his officers was insulted at Fajardo, Puerto Rico, Porter forced Puerto Rican officials to apologize. As a result, a court-martial in 1825 found him guilty of disobeying orders and suspended him for six months. He resigned and served from 1826 to 1829 with the Mexican Navy, which he helped reorganize.
Porter returned to the United States in 1829 and was appointed U.S. consul general to Algiers. He later served as a diplomat in Turkey.
Porter was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on Feb. 1, 1780. At the age of 18, he joined the U.S. Navy as a midshipman. Porter died on March 3, 1843. His son David Dixon Porter was also a noted U.S. naval officer (see Porter, David Dixon ).
