The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-05-29
ssOid Ironsides.n

upen the columns OF our paper, VIII not admit OF
their reception after the hous named.
ssOfd Ironsides"
The U. 8. frisAte Consultation, better known A.
"oid rronsides,- has been lately thoroughly re-
paired and coppered, and will soon be ready Tor
sea. A CORRESPONDENT Of the Boston Journal says
thai the thanking outside aud 10 has been taken
on and between six aud seven hundred new TIM
bars have been put on In place Of the rotten ones
removed. and new plauking, ceiling, clamps aud
ass.t. ,aks the. place Of old. "oid Ironsides" Is
now as good as new when first launched 10 Boston
sixty yearsago She will be fitted with heavier
battery than she has hitherto carried, and with
nj, the improvements of the ago, while the model
Of course remalas as she originally construct
cd.
American sailors have great faith Ia the fortunes
Of this vessel and IL is justified By her remarkable
and brilliant career. She inaugurated that won
,,erfnl series of naval victories which snstcheo
from Britain the sceptre Of the deep. The hfs'
time in thirty years that Great Britain had 'osl
fsigate In anything like equal conflict occui'eu
on the 10Th of September, 1912. when the bti''s"
frixate Guerriere. thought to be ma'ch iof auS
vessel of her class. and numbered among TUG
largest in the English navy. met the hue'ee"
frisate Constitution, Capt. HILL. soconhaen' WAS
the Guerriere Of her capacity to cope wi'n any
thing that awalked the waters under American
sbuniiug,,n that she had for some time been ~
search Of an American frgste, having given 'o''
NAL eh.,la,cs 20 all our vessels OF the same class
and had at one Of her mast-he flag, on when
her name was inscribed In large characters py
way of gasconade, and on another, the words
''Not the Little Belt in allnsioD to the broadside
which the Uuited States ship President had given
that vessel. before the war. In this fnsuiiing
guise she had looked defantiy into several OF our
ports and exulted 10 the expectation OF De-
ing the first to take the conceit out OF the
Yankees When the Constitution hove In sight
the auerriere at once backed her msintop-
topsail. and waited for her to come down she dld
not have long to wait, and in one short half hour
after Hull laid alongside the braggart OF The sea-,
every mast was gone, tho hull shattered to frRg
ments. and the .strirei bunting floating in stern
triumph over the surrendered Captain and hnlk
The number of killed was than twice that
Of the Constitution, aud her wounded nine times
rs great. 1t is worthy of notice that Capt. Hull
did not permit his men to answer the enemy's
broadsides till he got him TO close quarters, and
that his sailors repeatedly wounded and Kill
ell at their guns, before the Constitution opened
her iron mouths Indeed, the maDeuvring aud
occasiena! firing bad occupied hreequarters of an
hour. and broadside upon broadside was afterwards
continuously poured ont upon the Constitution.
before Hull permitted his men TO fire single gun
When, however, his vessel was brought exactly to
the station intended, he gave the word, and it is
said that from that moment to the end Of the at
tion the fash aud roar of the Constitutions guns
was the most uninterrupted and appalling blaze
and thunder ever witnessed in naval combat
ks.a &c tia nfs
Irousides," and of the late upon the ocean.
The next piecsof luck was the meeting in octr-
her, 1873 with the large British frigate Java, car
rying 40 guns, commanded by distinguished Of
ficer, Capt. Lambert, and having on board four
hundred men, besides one hundred seamen and
number of military aud naval officers whom she
way carrying out the East Indies for the service
there. The ight was a desperate one. the gallant
Lambert was mortaIly wounded, and the Java
soon a complete wreck, with her flag lowered be-
fore the ''striped bunting" On this second victo-
ry, the Constitution Was commanded by Balm
bridge. She bad nine men killed, and twenty four
wounded the Java, sixty killed, and one hundred
and twenty wounded.
in April, 1914 the Constitution, then command.
cd by Captain Stewart, fell in with the British
fricate la Pique, Captain Maitland, but the La
Pique fed on her approach and escaped, af .er
long chase. Very likely the saucy officers now on
our coast, and the pert editor of the Albion, who
talks 80 sneeriugly about bunting" have forgot
ten the fact, but il is none the less a fact that
Captain Maitland, on his arrival in England in
stead of being cashiered for running away from
the "bunting," WAS complimentef by the admiral
iy for obeying their instructions in not fighting an
American frigatel Times had changed since the
Guerriere displayed the dsfant challenge to all
corners at her mast head, and "Old Ironsides" bad
done her part in working the wholesome reyolu-
ton.
On The 10th of February, 1915, the Constitution,
Capt, Stewart, fought her last battle, whipping
two British ships Of war, at the same time tn.
f,eate Cyan Captain Gordon Faulkner, of thirt,
,Iur guns, aud the corvette Levant, Captain
Daylers, of Is thirty-two pound caunonades
The enemy lost eighty in killed and wounded; the
Constitution four killed and eleven Wounded
Both British ships were tremendously pounded, and
hauled down their colors with c1mmsndable alac
rity. The Constitution was but slightly injured,
aud called proudly off with her prizes, the striped
bunting" of the American presenting its usual
beautiful contrast to the striped jackets of the
enemy.
Success to the old sbip If che finds any moro
bra2yarts about the coast, anxious to inhct hui
initiation upon the American flag, she DO
doubt repeat the lessons SO scientifically given IN
the late war.