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The exigencies of combat are sometimes incompati- e with regulations conceived and written during Peace, for a Marine did command a United States fight- 'ng ship—First Lieutenant John Marshall Gamble.
The story began on 27 October 1812, when the r'gate Essex, under command of Captain David Porter, Sailed from Delaware Bay to begin a historic cruise into ,he Pacific Ocean. The Essex was a 32-gun sailing frigate Git by pbvate subscription on the credit of the United tates. Her keel was laid at Salem, Massachusetts, on *3 April 1799, and she was launched on 30 September 'T the same year. Her salient characteristics were: bur-
850 tons, length l4l feet, and beam 37 feet. Nor- complement was 274 officers and men. On the
l°r the Pacific Ocean via stormy Cape Horn. After a ^ardous and tempestuous voyage, the Essex arrived in alparaiso, Chile, in March 1813, the first United States
Officers of the Marine Corps may not command ships or ,>aval shipyards ...”
Article 0822, United States Navy Regulations 1973.
bl,
^en Gal
historic Pacific cruise, she carried a Marine detachment
31 men, commanded by First Lieutenant John Mar- shaH Gamble.
Captain Porter took command of the Essex in the ^Urnrner of 1811. Already a hero of the Barbary Wars, e was perhaps the U. S. Navy’s pioneer Pacific strate- Aist the first American officer to recognize and at- T^pt to implement an American strategic advantage in r e Pacific Ocean.
following receipt of his 27 October 1812 sailing '^ers, Captain Porter took the Essex to sea to harass r*tish merchant and naval shipping. Within a few sbc bad captured an English packet and a mer- '1:lnt vessel. Because of a shortage of supplies, the Essex . c‘n reprovisioned on the east coast of Brazil. Liberally Interpreting his instructions, Captain Porter then sailed
ship of war to show the national flag in the Pacific.
Putting again to sea, the Essex fell in with an American ship whose master reported that two United States whaling vessels had been captured by a cruiser fitted out by the Spanish viceroy of Peru. Pursuing this attacker, the Essex captured the Peruvian cruiser Nereyda on March 26, 1813, for her first victory in the Pacific. The Essex then sailed westward for the Galapagos Islands, a group just south of the equator about 600 miles west of the South American mainland. These were noted as a rendezvous for whalers, and Captain Porter cruised in this area from 17 April to 3 October, during which period he captured 12 English whaling ships. These prizes were valuable, as they furnished the crew of the Essex with provisions, stores, cordage, canvas, paint, and tar which they required to remain at sea.
But capture of the English whalers, all of which carried letters of marque, also created a serious problem for Captain Porter. In order to man the prizes with reliable crews, he assigned officers from the Essex to command them, thus weakening his own strength. By late May, 1813, every naval officer from the Essex except Captain Porter and the ship’s chaplain, clerk, and boatswain had been so assigned.
Thus, on 29 May 1813, when the Essex captured the British whaler Greenwich, there arose an exigency of combat operations and on the following day, a U. S. Marine was placed in command of the ship. A unique precedent had been set.
In the words of Captain Porter, excerpted from his journal:
". . . for want of sea-officers, I put lieutenant Gamble of the marines in charge of the Greenwich. I had much confidence in the discretion of this gentlemen; and, to make up for his want of nautical knowledge, I put two expert seamen with him as mates, one of whom was a good navigator.”
Lieutenant Gamble proved to be a competent skipper. For example, on 14 July 1813, the Essex, in company with captured British whalers Georgianna and Greenwich, captured the British letters of marque whalers Seringapatam, New Zealander, and Charlton. The Greenwich, with Gamble in command, proved instrumental in this victory by outmaneuvering the Seringapatam and preventing her from escaping.
Based on the seamanship and initiative exhibited by Lieutenant Gamble as commanding officer of the Greenwich, Captain Porter soon charged him with even greater responsibility. On 12 December 1813, Porter departed with the Essex for Valparaiso, leaving Gamble in charge of a newly established American base at Nukahiva, one of the Marquesas Islands. Gamble had a small garrison of 18 men to guard the prize ships Greenwich, Seringapatam, New Zealander, and Hammond and watch the natives on the island, whose attitude toward the Americans was unclear. Of the 18 men in Gamble’s garrison, only five were Marines. They were also charged with the responsibility of guarding six Essex sailors who were under disciplinary sentences. Captain Porter left orders for Lieutenant Gamble to remain on the island for about five months, at which time he was to man two of the prize ships and burn the
others, providing no further instructions were receive^ from the Essex.
No further orders were received from the Essex, t>ut developments took an adverse turn for Gamble. SerioUs problems developed with the natives, and a mutiny broke out among the garrison members on 7 MA 1814. Gamble was taken prisoner by the mutineers, af^ accidentally shot through a foot. He was subsequent!) released by his captors, but then captured by the British’ in whose custody he remained until the war between the United States and England ended. Gamble returned to America via a circuitous route, and upon his arrival in New York in 1815, he learned of his promotion t0 captain.
Captain Gamble’s subsequent effective service was limited, for the wound in his foot had left him perm*' nently crippled. After commanding the Marines at thc New York Navy Yard and the barracks at Philadelphia he was promoted to major on 30 July 1834. He died on 11 September 1836 at the age of 46. Unfortunately, n° member of his beloved Corps bore him to his grave- because all available Marines were involved in a conflict w’ith the Seminole Indians. New York State Milit,a supplied the funeral escort.
A Marine at the conn? At least once in the illustrion5 history of the U. S. Navy.