The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 569
684 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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An Evaluation of the Texas Navy
Daniel Webster," British Minister to Mexico Richard Packenham,6
and Mexican Minister to Washington Juan Almonte7 all said
would soon come.
The Mexican Navy consisted of five sailing vessels and three
steamships. Two of the steamships had recently been built in
England; one was the most modern in the world, the first steam
warship built of iron." The vessel was compartmented to make
damage control easier, and mounted pivot guns with exploding
Paixhans shells.
Texas had allowed the misunderstanding of naval power and
the withholding by President Houston of funds appropriated
by Congress for the navy to ruin all of her vessels except a sloop
and a brig.9 The entire fleet would have been ruined, except for
the determination of Commodore Moore. On his personal credit,
he borrowed enough money to keep the Austin and the Wharton
in shape for war. This was at a time when Texas, herself, could
not borrow a cent. Moore knew how vastly superior the Mexican
Navy was, and he developed an exploding shell similar to that
used by the great countries of the world.'x
In April, 1843, Commodore Moore sailed boldly from New
Orleans, describing his purposes as follows, "to make one des-
perate struggle to turn the tide of ill luck that has so long been
running against Texas.""
The Mexicans had four times as many warships, twice the
5Garrison (ed.), Diplomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas, II, Part I,
616.
eRichard Packenham to the Earl of Aberdeen, September 1o, 1842 (MSS., Foreign
Office, Public Record Office, London), Mexico (50), CLV; and February 21, 1843
(MSS., Foreign Office, Public Record Office, London), Mexico (50), CLXI.
?Juan Almonte to Foreign Minister, February 7, 1843 (MS., Secretario de Rela-
ciones Exteriores, Mexico City), Leg. 1o69.
SThe steamships were:
length tons guns
Guadalupe 183 ft. 788 2 32-lb long and 2 68-1b Paixhans swivel
Montezuma 2o3 ft. 1,164 2 68-1b swivel and 6 42-1b long Paixhans
9These were:
length tons guns
Austin 125 ft. 500 18 24-1b columbiade guns
Wharton 11o ft. 405 16 18-lb medium
loE. W. Moore, To the People of Texas, an Appeal: in Vindication of His Conduct
of the Navy (Galveston [?], 1843 [?]), 71.
11E. W. Moore to F. Pinkard, April 19, 1843, "Correspondence from the British
Archives Concerning Texas, 1837-1846," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XIV, go7.569
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960, periodical, 1960; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101186/m1/701/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.