The morning call., 1891-02-15
THE ADM1RAI OF THE NAVY.

If David Dixon Porter had lived seven
years longer his family record would have
CONSTITUTED a naval history of the United
States frr the first century OF Its existence.
II was in 1898 that David Porter entered the
service as midshipman on the Constellation ;
his son died in 1891. Admiral Of the Ameri-
can Navy. During this long stretch of years
there was hardly naval operation of note
in which one or the other did not take part
Both were remarkable for the qualities
which go to make up first-claSs naval ON
GER; but the distinguishing trait winch
made them conspicuous among sailors was
their remarkable initiative and resource. 1t
fell to their lot to be rendered problems new
and unsolved. They discovered solution
by the exercise of their wits, with no help
from books or precedent. Captain David
Porter, in the Essex, went into the racine
TO DESTROY the English whale-fShery. win
few exceptions, the Pacific ports were closed
against him. lie could get no supplies any
yhere He resolved to rely upon his capt
ures for what he needed, and for about
year he lived upon the enemy, all the pro-
visions, clothing, medicines and stores
which he required having been supplied by
his prizes. He dispensed with n naval base,
as Sherman dispensed with land base in
his march through Georgia.
The son had to deal with an equally novel
problem at the outset of his service in the
Civil War. He was ordered to lombard
Forts Jackson and st. Philip with mortars.
No such operation on such scale had ever
been tried before He poured 20. 900 1S-inch
shells into the rebel works, ana opened the
way for the fleet past forts which, according
to the engineers, were sure to sink any YES
sci which got under their crOss-fire. The
affair at Hilton Head had proved that no
bOnlbardment, however severe, insured the
evacuation of the works bombarded. Porter
demonstrated that mortar fire could paralyze
the best-serEed batteries.
Another neat piece of work was the de-
struction of the rebel ironclad Indianola,
which was preparing to attack the fleet at
New Orleans. The feet above Nicksburg
did not venture to take the risk of running
the batteries. Porter drew their fire with a
quaker gunboat, which remained aflOat long
enough tn brighten the crew of the lndianoia
into blowing her up. That was stroke OF
genius, and elected the applause OF sailors
throughout the world.
OF an equally high order of genius was his
navigation of the bayouS and Swamps of the
Mississippi with his river ronclads. 1t had
always been problem on the Mississippi
how little water would suffice to float a
steamer The quandsry was humorously
expressed in the saying that a river boat
could be sailed wherever the soil was little
damp. Porter turned the jest to grim ac-
count. Wherever he found a little streamlet
running through swamp, he ran his boats
into it, and by sheer force drove them
through the mud. Thus he quite often
Hanked the enemy's positions, and the rebels
were more than once paralyzed by the APP
pearance, in the woods in their rear. of fleet
of gunboats, crashing through the tall trees
and apparently travelling on the land.
He was one of those men whose faculties
are reused by obstacles. The more difficult
the task set him. the more certain was he TO
devise some new and surprising way of ac-
complishing it. He seemed to have in him
the blood of Nelson. who invented the plan
Of cutting the enemy's line at right angle.
and often engaged hostile fleet in a man
ner which was certain, according to the
rules, to have insured defeat, but for some
novel stroke Of tactics at the critical mo-
ment.
Porter and Farragut are names which Will
be familiar TO schoolboys so long as the
American nation lives. Each left glorious
record; nor is it easy to determine which of
the two holds the highest place in the af-
fectons of his country. 1t is agreeable to
remember that each in his turn received the
highest honors which it was in the power OF
the nation to beSt0w.