When David was about seven, Mr. Farragut was put in charge of a gunboat on the Mississippi. His family moved near New Orleans, and there Mrs. Farragut died of yellow fever about a year later. Just before her illness, a stranger, an old man who had had a sunstroke, had been taken into her home and cared for. This stranger was the father of Commodore David Porter. The grateful naval officer offered to adopt and educate one of the Farragut boys. After the mother’s death, this offer was accepted for David. The little fellow was sent to school and at the age of ten he became a midshipman in the navy. He was very small for his age, and once when he went ashore a group of idlers gathered around and made sport of “the baby officer.” One waggish fellow sprinkled him with water from a watering pot to “make him grow.” This led to a fight between David’s tormentors and the sailors in which David took active part. After it was over, someone remarked that “the baby officer was three pounds of uniform and seventy pounds of fight.” In October, 1812, David sailed with Captain Porter on the Essex. Captain Porter was ordered to join the squadron in the Atlantic if he could: if not, to use his own discretion. He cruised about the Atlantic several months, capturing several British merchant-vessels, but not finding the American squadron. He then decided to make a cruise in the Pacific. There he captured several British vessels and gave timely warning to American ships that had not heard of the war. At one time provisions were scarce, and David, like the others, was on a short allowance of bread and water. In May, 1813, David, then twelve years old, was put in charge of a captured English vessel to take it to port. The English captain was very angry at having to take orders from the “baby commodore,” as Farragut was often called, but Farragut executed his orders with exactness and dignity. In March, 1814, the Essex, off the coast of South America, was attacked by two English vessels and captured after a desperate fight in which the Americans lost one hundred and twenty-four men. Farragut was “a man on occasions,” and Captain Porter commended his battery in this action. The American sailors were made prisoners on parole and they were exchanged only a few weeks before the treaty of peace was made. The time was improved by Farragut in attending school. Between his cruises he was generally at school studying diligently, and at eighteen he stood the examinations required for a lieutenant, though he did not receive his promotion till several years later.