The brig Porpoise, part of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, sailed through frigid Antarctic waters on 30 January 1840, off a seemingly impenetrable wall of ice. That afternoon, sailors topside sighted two ships in the distance. Suspecting them to be the sloops Vincennes, flagship of the expedition, and her consort Peacock, Lieutenant Cadwalder Ringgold, the Porpoise’s commander, ordered his ship to close them. As the distance diminished, however, the vessels broke out French colors; the larger of the two, the Astrolabe—flagship of Captain Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d’Urville—wore a commodore’s pennant.
“To cheer the prince of French explorers,” wrote historian William Stanton, “the Porpoise set a course that would carry her under the Astrolabe’s stern. It was the stuff of high drama, this unprecedented meeting of two national expeditions at the edge of the last continent.” To Ringgold’s astonishment, however, as the ships came within hailing distance, the French “suddenly made all sail” and sped off. The Americans emerged from the encounter indignant, the French puzzled. Unknown to the Porpoise’s sailors, however, Dumont d’Urville had only desired to keep up with the rapidly closing American ship. “Both sensitive to national honor,” concluded Stanton, “the two explorers went their separate ways, each reflecting on the other’s deplorable manners.”
The American warship involved in that serendipitous polar meeting had been authorized on 30 June 1834. The second U.S. Navy ship named Porpoise, she was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard in 1835. Designed by Naval Constructor Samuel Humphreys, son of the frigate Constitution’s designer, the Porpoise was launched on 31 May 1836 and commissioned the following August, Lieutenant William Ramsay in command. She sailed to investigate southern U.S. harbors on 25 August, returning to Norfolk on 9 February 1837.
On 18 May 1836, less than a fortnight after the Porpoise had entered her element for the first time, Congress authorized “an exploring and surveying expedition for the Southern Ocean” not only in view of the United States’ whaling interests, but “to extend the bounds of science and to promote knowledge.” Authorizing such an endeavor is one thing, but actually enabling it to move forward was altogether another, as members of Congress, as well as the general public, disagreed on whether or not the expedition was even necessary. As far as naval involvement went, one commodore and three captains declined to lead it. Eventually, however, Secretary of War Joel Poinsett (Secretary of the Navy Mahlon Dickerson having opposed the endeavor) recommended that Lieutenant Charles Wilkes be given command.
Wilkes, who had, ironically, washed his hands of the expedition at one point, had become acquainted with the Porpoise during surveying operations off the coast of Georgia in the summer of 1837. As the time of the voyage drew near, he considered her “admirably fitted for the performance of her duty.” He offered command of the brig to Lieutenant Ringgold, a man of “very high character both as an officer and a gentleman.” To fit her out, workmen fashioned a poop cabin and forecastle deck. On 18 August 1838, the Porpoise sailed from Hampton Roads with the expedition, and after a momentous voyage that had taken her around Cape Horn, to the Antarctic continent, to the South Seas, and to the mouth of the Columbia River, she stood in to the waters off Sandy Hook on 30 June 1842.
The Porpoise’s battery would change at least five times during her career. At commissioning she carried two long 9-pounders and two 24-pounder carronades. In 1843, after her return from the Exploring Expedition, she received eight additional carronades to augment the two already carried, while she retained the two 9-pounders. In 1846 one carronade was removed, and two years later, three of the 24-pounders were taken off. In 1850 a pair of 32-pounders replaced the long 9s, while the number of 24-pounders (six) remained the same. Ultimately, in 1852, she only carried two 32-pounders.
According to an 1850 drawing, a small storeroom took up the extreme forward-most part of the Porpoise’s hold, immediately aft of which were water tanks holding 3,625 gallons, and casks holding an additional 2,040 gallons on the “ground tier” (most likely referring to the lowest level of storage) in addition to 280 gallons in casks on the “riding tier.” In terms of provisions, the drawing lists 5 full barrels and 30 half-barrels of beef on the port side, and 5 full barrels and 20 half-barrels of pork on the starboard side. Also present in the hold was 6,176 pounds of pig-iron ballast, 2,512 in the spirit room and 3,664 in the sheet-chain locker. The ship’s magazine lay on the centerline, far aft. A galley on the berth deck served the ship’s officers and men, aft of which lay the compartment where the crew hung their hammocks; the officers’ quarters lay aft.
After a stint off the coast of Africa searching for slavers (1843–44), the Porpoise served in the Home Squadron during the war with Mexico. Commanded by Lieutenant William E. Hunt, the brig captured the Mexican schooner Nonata on 21 August 1846 off Lagunos, Mexico. Less than three months later, on 14 November 1846, off Tampico, the Porpoise, in concert with the sidewheel steamer Mississippi; steamers Princeton, Spitfire, and Vixen; and sloop St. Mary’s, captured four Mexican schooners, one Spanish schooner, and four Mexican barges.
Decommissioned following her return from her operations in the West Indies and with the Home Squadron, the Porpoise underwent repairs to fit her out to resume active service. Recommissioned on 1 January 1848 with Lieutenant Alexander E. Gordon in command, the brig sailed to join the African Squadron a little more than a fortnight later to work in concert with units of the Royal Navy engaged in seeking to suppress the slave trade. Outside of a brief return to Norfolk, the Porpoise remained on that station until standing in to the port of New York on 28 July 1852, to go out of commission on 3 August.
Recommissioned in May 1853, Lieutenant Alonzo B. Davis commanding, the Porpoise received orders to participate in the “Surveying Expedition to Behring’s [sic] Straits, North Pacific and China Seas,” under Commander Ringgold, who had commanded her during the Wilkes expedition more than a decade earlier. Joining the squadron in Hampton Roads, the Porpoise sailed for the Pacific on 11 June 1853. Proceeding via the Cape of Good Hope, the squadron carried out its surveying operations en route, and reached Chinese waters in March 1854.
The Porpoise, Acting Lieutenant William K. Bridge in command, stood out of Hong Kong Harbor on 12 September 1854. Nine days later, the brig, which had been ordered to survey the Bonin and Ladrone islands, parted company with the flagship Vincennes in a gale between the island of Formosa and the coast of China. The bad weather proved an ominous portent, for the Porpoise vanished soon thereafter, most likely the victim of a typhoon.
While prowess in battle had not been hers, the gallant little ship that sank to an unknown grave had played her unique role in the U.S. Navy’s voyages of discovery, key steps along the nation’s path to world power.
Dolphin-class Brig
Tonnage: 224
Length: 88 feet (between perpendiculars)
Beam: 25 feet
Depth of Hold: 10 feet, 9 inches
Draft: 13 feet
Complement: 80 officers and men
Armament (1836): 2 long 9-pounders
2 24-pounder carronades