Farragut sailed USS Saratoga from Norfolk to Veracruz and was quickly ordered about 150 nautical miles away to blockade Tuxpan. He held the station for months, returned for supplies, made a further replenishment voyage, and then resumed the blockade. Even after yellow fever broke out aboard, he kept the ship on station for another two months before carrying the sick crew home through Pensacola and New York. Perry rarely kept Saratoga with the main fleet because Farragut did not require close supervision. Blockade duty required restraint, logistical persistence, and crew management as much as aggression in battle.
Chapter · 49:36-53:47
Tuxpan blockade duty and a yellow-fever outbreak
Repeated deployments of USS Saratoga to distant Tuxpan show Farragut sustaining an independent blockade through resupply cycles, monotonous duty, and disease.