The navy of Mexico in 1827 described by Henry George Ward

P. 227: “When the Spanish troops, after being driven from the Capital and the continent, occupied the Castle of St. John of Ulloa, which is situated upon a sand bank nearly opposite the town of Veracruz, the necessity of expelling them from this last stronghold, and the impossibility of effecting it without a naval force, induced the Government to purchase six gunboats and two sloops of war in the United States, which, with one brig, and two launches, on the Pacific side, constituted, in 1823, the whole Navy of the Republic. During the siege of St. John, which lasted till November, 1825, this force was gradually increased; until, in January 1827, it consisted of one ship of the line (formerly the Spanish Asia, now the Congress) two frigates, (the Libertad and Tepeyac,) the corvette Morelos; brigs of war Guerrero, Victoria, Bravo, and Constante; the schooner Hermon, four gun-boats, four large launches, and two pilot-boats, used in the conveyance of the Government correspondence with California. The expense of the whole with that of the naval departments, stores, pay of officers and men, repairs, &c., is estimated at 1,309,045 dollars, and this it will probably never exceed, as Mexico, both from the thinness of the population upon her coasts, and from the natural difficulties of the access

p. 228: to the Interior, is neither able, nor called upon, to undertake the defence of her territory at a distance from her own shores. Her squadron, (such as it is) is under the orders of Commodore Porter; who, ignorant probably of the very superior force assembled by the Spaniards at the Havana, under Admiral Laborde, threatened to blockade that port, and, by destroying the trade of the island of Cuba, to compel the Spanish Government to come to some understanding with its former Colonies. The fallacy of these expectations was soon demonstrated, and Porter, unable to keep the sea a moment before Laborde's fleet, which consists of six really fine frigates, and two ships of the line, besides some smaller vessels, was forced to take refuge in Key West, from whence he did not for some time extricate himself. The attempt upon the Havana was injudicious, as with so f' feeble a force, it could hardly, under any circumstances, have led to a decisive result. As it is, it has only served to introduce a system of privateering, which will increase the irritation of the Mother country, and probably lead to reprisals upon the Mexican coasts, without producing any one good effect. A little time will, however, convince the Mexicans that a few light vessels, to check smuggling, and keep up the communication between the different points of the coast, is all that they require; and the country will then be saved a very considerable, and a very useless expense.”

Source

H.G. Ward. Mexico. London, 1829.Digitzied by Google.