Visiting Portsmouth and Gosport, Virginia, for the first time, he was ordered to serve on the sloop of war John Adams. He next served on the frigate USS Columbia on her voyage to China and after three years passed his his naval officer's examination. Returning to Portsmouth, Guidry took some time in 1840 for a courtship and married a local girl from one of the city's prominent families, Louisa S. Spratley. The couple settled in what is today Swimming Point.
After service in the Mexican War on blockade duty, Guthrie was sent in 1852 to the frigate USS Brandywine on the Brazil Station. There he learned how to speak Spanish and translate a history of his host nation. (Well, this should be Portuguese). Unfortunately, that translation was lost at sea while in route to its publishers.
Guthrie next received orders to report to Captain Matthew Fontaine Maury, who was establishing the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C..
Guthrie's second tour to China was aboard the USS Levant, proved very eventful. He arrived in time for the Anglo-French War in the Far East as the two European powers fought for control over the tea and spice in the Orient. This is also called the Second Opium War.
--Old B-R'er
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