12/16/2015
The USS Essex was the second of two ships called upon by Williams to test the castle's strength. The Essex was built in New England and launched in the fall of 1799. She would see action right away in the "Quasi War" with France in 1800 and spend the next decade patrolling America's waters, being commissioned, decommissioned and recommissioned. As tensions rose between the US and Great Britain and war declared in 1812, the Essex would be recommission and begin her 1812 career with quite a bit of gusto, taking 10 prizes in the summer of 1812. Aboard the Essex was a newly assigned midshipman, 9 or 10 years of age, named David G. Farragut.
So the future first Admiral of the United States Navy, the man who said, "damn the torpedoes".... at the Battle of Mobile bay during the Civil War, was a young preteen aboard the Essex, probably watching the Castle Williams tests. During the War of 1812 the Essex would eventually sail around Cape Horn, capturing many British prizes in the process. Her Exploits would inspire one of Patrick O'Brien's famous Capt Aubrey novels and, like the President, she would be capture by the British, after fierce battle, and serve the Royal Navy until the 1830s