I think it's likely that "Deluded People Cave In" was added to the wheelhouse on the newspaper illustration as a sort of commentary... and since the newspaper illustration is nearly all we have to go on, it's assumed that it was actually on there. It seems odd that they would go to the trouble of making a realistic-looking dummy and then put a big slogan on it to call attention to it in that way.

On the other hand, Yankee tars (and Porter) did have a sense of humor.

RE Porter... that's part of his fascination for me. How could such an obvious liar and cheat rise so high in a service where everyone knew each other so well, and honor was so important?

Part of the answer is, of course, that the war upended the seniority system and rewarded results... and Porter managed to get himself associated with results (some of which he had a hand in, some of which... well, not so much). Welles' comments on Porter remind me a bit of Lincoln's comment to Hooker along the lines of 'it was in spite of these comments, rather than because of them' that he was being promoted.

Interestingly, it appears that Porter (unlike his older brother, William D.) was not seriously considered for the Reserved List in 1855.

Porter had ability. He was the officer left in charge of the riverine force on the Tobasco River in the Mexican War that managed to capture a Mexican fort before the landing force (commanded personally by M.C. Perry) ever got into action (and it was this, I believe, that caused his name to come up when a Mississippi Squadron commander was needed to replace Davis). He also inspired a lot of loyalty among others, even if he was as likely as not to reward loyalty with a stab in the back. A very peculiar man.