He felt deeply their kindness, and as some
slight return, offered to adopt one of the Farragut children, take him
North with him, and do what he could for his advancement. Young David
promptly said that he would go, the arrangements were concluded, and the
boy of seven accompanied his new protector to Washington. He spent two
years at school there, and then, on December 17, 1810, at the age of
nine, received an appointment as midshipman in the United States navy.
Two years later, he accompanied Porter in the Essex on that memorable
trip around Cape Horn.
Porter took so many prizes in the South Pacific that his supply of older
officers ran out, and twelve-year old David Farragut was appointed
prize-master of one of them, with orders to take her to Valparaiso. When
Farragut gave his first order, her skipper, a hot-tempered old sea-dog,
flew into a rage, and declaring that he had "no idea of trusting himself
with a blamed nutshell," rushed below for his pistols. The
twelve-year-old commander shouted after him that, if he came on deck
again, he would be thrown overboard, and thenceforth was master of the
ship. He was back on the Essex again when she was attacked in Valparaiso
harbor by a British squadron, and got his baptism of fire in one of the
hardest-fought naval battles in history.
From that time until the outbreak of the Civil War, his life was spent
in the most active service, and he rose to the rank of captain.
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