Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are
able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the
public for several reasons. That’s quite a pity while these books contains
useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor
accessible.
p. 57: “When the Spanish troops, after being driven from the capital and
continent, occupied the castle of San Juan d’Ulloa, the necessity of driving
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 Mexico. During the siege of the
castle, which continued until November, 1825, this force gradually increased;
until, in 1827, it consisted of one ship of the line, two frigates, one
corvette, four brigs, one schooner, four gunboats, four large launches, and two
pilot boats. With a squadron composed of such materials, Com. Porter attempted
to blockade Havana, but I’m was unable to keep the sea a moment before Admiral
Laborde
p. 58: squadron, and was forced to take refuge in Key West, whence he did
not extricate himself for some time. The present effective force consists of
the steamer Guadalupe, 778 tons, two 63 shell guns, four of 12, and a machine
for rockets; steamer Montezuma, 1100 tons, one 63 shell gun, two long 32’s, two
32 pound
gunnades, two 32 pound
carronades, and a machine for rockets; brig Mexican, one shell gun of 12, and
fourteen gunnades of 12; brig Vera Cruzana Libre, one shell gun of 32, six
gunnades of 18, and 12
pound carronades; brig Tempoalteca, six carronades of
12; schooner Eagle, one shell gun of 32, and six 18 pound carronades;
schooner Liberty, one shell gun of 12; schooner Morelos, one shell gun of 12;
and four gunboats, each mounting a long 24 pounder on a pivot. All these
vessels are stated to be deficient in men ; and, with the exception of the two
steamers and gunboats, require repairs before they would be able to put to
sea.”
Source
Thomas Jefferson Farnham. Mexico: its geography, its people, and its
institutions etc. New York, 1846.
