Essex Junior was already carrying Porter and other paroled prisoners toward New York when the 74-gun HMS Saturn stopped her to inspect the papers. Porter took a boat from the cartel and reached the American coast while shore batteries opened fire on the British ship. Secretary of the Navy William Jones presented the landing as a triumphant escape rather than the last stage of a British-arranged repatriation. American officials also argued that Saturn's inspection had broken the parole and freed Porter and his crew to serve again. Porter was offered the new 44-gun frigate USS Columbia, but British forces burned her before completion and the war ended before he returned to sea. Porter's reception shows how a practical prisoner exchange could be transformed into a political story after a military defeat.
Chapter · 2:59:38-3:02:29
A cartel inspection becomes Porter's heroic escape story
Porter left Essex Junior by boat while HMS Saturn inspected the cartel's papers, allowing American officials to portray an already-arranged journey home as a triumphant escape.