Nuku Hiva Campaign

The Nuku Hiva Campaign was an armed conflict between the United States and the Polynesian inhabitants of Nuku Hiva during the War of 1812. It occurred in 1813, following Captain David Porter's decision to sail his fleet to the island for repairs before continuing his raid against British shipping. Upon arrival, the Americans became involved in a tribal war and allied themselves with the Te I'i people against the Happah and Tai Pi clans.

Background

Operations in the Pacific began in early 1813 when Captain Porter entered the Pacific, via Cape Horn, in the thirty-two gun frigate USS Essex. Originally Porter was assigned to rendezvous with two other warships but both encountered enemy resistance before their meeting and Porter went around the Horn alone. The mission was to harass the British whaling industry off South America and around the Galápagos Islands. For months the Americans cruised the South Seas and they captured several British whalers that they placed under navy command. By October 1813, Essex was in serious need of repairs so Porter decided to head for Nuku Hiva, an island in the Marquesas, fearing that a British squadron would find him if he chose to take refuge in a South American port. The American fleet that went to the Marquesas included USS Essex and the liberated American whaler Barclay, and nine captured British whalers: Seringapatam (22 guns), Greenwich (10 guns), Montezuma (18 guns), Essex Junior (16 guns), Hector (11 guns), Charlton (10 guns), Sir Andrew Hammond, and Catherine and New Zealander, both of eight guns. In total, Captain Porter had just over 200 United States Navy officers and sailors, accompanied by a small detachment of no more than twenty marines under the command of Lieutenant John M. Gamble.