or, Enchanted Isles
by Herman Melville
SKETCH FIFTH.
THE FRIGATE, AND SHIP FLYAWAY.
“Looking far forth into the ocean wide, A goodly ship with banners bravely dight, And flag in her top-gallant I espide, Through the main sea making her merry flight.”
Ere quitting Rodondo, it must not be omitted that here, in 1813, theU.S. frigate Essex, Captain David Porter, came near leaving her bones.Lying becalmed one morning with a strong current setting her rapidlytowards the rock, a strange sail was descried, which–not out of keepingwith alleged enchantments of the neighborhood–seemed to be staggeringunder a violent wind, while the frigate lay lifeless as if spell-bound.But a light air springing up, all sail was made by the frigate in chaseof the enemy, as supposed–he being deemed an English whale-ship–butthe rapidity of the current was so great, that soon all sight was lostof him; and, at meridian, the Essex, spite of her drags, was driven soclose under the foam-lashed cliffs of Rodondo that, for a time, allhands gave her up. A smart breeze, however, at last helped her off,though the escape was so critical as to seem almost miraculous.
Thus saved from destruction herself, she now made use of that salvationto destroy the other vessel, if possible. Renewing the chase in thedirection in which the stranger had disappeared, sight was caught of himthe following morning. Upon being descried he hoisted American colorsand stood away from the Essex. A calm ensued; when, still confident thatthe stranger was an Englishman, Porter dispatched a cutter, not to boardthe enemy, but drive back his boats engaged in towing him. The cuttersucceeded. Cutters were subsequently sent to capture him; the strangernow showing English colors in place of American. But, when the frigate’sboats were within a short distance of their hoped-for prize, anothersudden breeze sprang up; the stranger, under all sail, bore off to thewestward, and, ere night, was hull down ahead of the Essex, which, allthis time, lay perfectly becalmed.
This enigmatic craft–American in the morning, and English in theevening–her sails full of wind in a calm–was never again beheld. Anenchanted ship no doubt. So, at least, the sailors swore.
This cruise of the Essex in the Pacific during the war of 1812, is,perhaps, the strangest and most stirring to be found in the history ofthe American navy. She captured the furthest wandering vessels; visitedthe remotest seas and isles; long hovered in the charmed vicinity of theenchanted group; and, finally, valiantly gave up the ghost fighting twoEnglish frigates in the harbor of Valparaiso. Mention is made of herhere for the same reason that the Buccaneers will likewise receiverecord; because, like them, by long cruising among the isles,tortoise-hunting upon their shores, and generally exploring them; forthese and other reasons, the Essex is peculiarly associated with theEncantadas.
Here be it said that you have but three, eye-witness authorities worthmentioning touching the Enchanted Isles:–Cowley, the Buccaneer (1684);Colnet the whaling-ground explorer (1798); Porter, the post captain(1813). Other than these you have but barren, bootless allusions fromsome few passing voyagers or compilers.
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