Take Command, Captain Farragut!

<b>Prison Ship Valparaiso, Chile</b><p><i>Tuesday, March 29, 1814 -- Day One of Our Captivity</i></p><p>Dear Papa, I begin this letter not knowing if it will reach you. I often think of you, especially now, as I have much time on my hands. I am a prisoner of the English in Valparaiso. I was captured after a fierce battle on Valparaiso Bay.</p><p>I think, too, of Mama and miss her. For the year we were together Mrs. Porter loved me like her own son, but it was not the same. And then I went to sea.</p><p>I hope you read this letter with patience and understanding. I know I have been wayward in not writing you for more than two years, but you'll see much has happened to me in that time. In this letter I hope you will see that the boy you sent to be cared for by Captain Porter has grown into a man.</p><p>Now as a man I must suffer this imprisonment. We hope to be paroled soon. If so, we will be exchanged for British officers and returned to the United States. I do not look forward to the parole. Parole means I may not fight the English again until I am exchanged for a British midshipman. If we are not paroled, however, we will be shipped to England. There we will rot in another dreadful prison ship.</p><p>As with my other challenges, I must face this one with courage and determination.</p><p>I shall write daily to you long letters, just as a midshipman I wrote daily in my log. I will tell you my adventures to the best of my memory, beginning with my posting to the Esssex.</p><p>The <i>Essex,</i> having been shattered by cannon fire, is now in the hands of the English. Yet the day I first walked her decks, her black paint was fresh, her tall masts stood firm, her white sails were furled, her crew was eager to engagethe English enemy.</p><p>I was the last new midshipman to climb the <i>Essex's</i> rope ladder.</p><p>I will continue in my next entry, for I am tired after this harrowing day.</p><p>Good night, Papa.</p><p>Text copyright © 2002 by Peter Roop and Connie Roop<br></p>