New-York tribune., 1881-12-26
Az OLD SEA Dog.

The friIato Constitution, which arrived at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard recently, has now been put
out Of commission. having been pronounced nm
seaworthy and incapable of repairs. Nearly fifty
year. ago an order was issued from the Navy Depart
ment directing that she shouid he broken mp. Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes took apOets view of the mat
ter and wrote his welknOwn lyric, beginning " Ay.
tear her tatterod ensign down. His verses had
au excellent effect. and the order was recalled.
All such ships have history and the history of this
one is exceptionally interesting. II it wcrc matter
of writing her obituary there would be no default
of detail She was one Of the six 1gates ordered in
1874 by Congress TO be completed, launched and
put into commission. 1t is n curious fact that when
Cooper wrote his Naval History three of these ships
viz the United States, the Constellation and the
Constitution, wero still ahoat and in the service,
neither having been long out of commission ThcCOn-
sttuton carried forty-our guns She with the other
ships had been got alloat the year previous She
a large vessel, with batteries of thirty twentyfour
FOUNDERS on her guu-deCk--such ship
as the English were then in the habit
Of rating rs u thirty-eght. She went into the
West India Squadron under the command OF Captain
Samuel Nicholson and under the flag of Commodore
Barry then senior officer of the service with gem
cral rendezvous at Prince Rupert's Bay. Her con-
sorts made several important captures from the
French but there is no special mention of her own.
Her crew were engaged in the cutting out of
French letter of marque at Port au Platte. under
the command of Nr. Hull, officer afterward
to bo distinguished. Tho Constitution did
not emerge into hor private and personal
glory until some time after Congress- in 1901,
saved her from the ignominy of being disposed Of.
In 1904 she was in the squadron operating against
Trpoli under Preblc and distinguished herself by
her fierce attack upon the town, batteries and cas-
tle Ii was remarked at the time that though she
WAS long within the reach of the enemy'5 grape
many of which hit her, she had not man hurt. In
fact she was always lucky ship. In this action
she had several of her shrOuds baCk-stays trusseS
sprng-stays, chains, lifts and great deal of her
running rigging shot away, and yet her hull was
hardly touched.
The Constitution won no more especial laurclS
until our war with Great Britain in 1912; but then
the days of her great glory were at hand. She had
inst before been sent to Europe, under the command
of Captain HULL having on board specie for the
payment Of the interest on the debt due in Ho-
land. After u short stop, having fulfilled her
mission, at Portsmouth. England, she sailed, and
outsailed several English mcn-of-war sent in pur-
suit of her, as thero had been some diff
Guilty while she was in port about deserters. The
opening of the war found her at homo. On the
u
tain Hull she sailed from Annapolis and stood to
the nOrhward. On Friday July II. she discovered
% sail tO the northward and eastward, which subse-
qucntly proved to be the Gueriere. But tho COnst
tuition was soon encountered bya British fleet, and
then began that chase. uneXampled in naval annals,
which redOunded much TO the glory of the officers
and men of the Constitution. She sailed proudly
into Boston with n record of seamanship which has
never been surpassed, and never will be, and which
places Captain Hull among the first of naval COM
manders Of any age. But the Constitution was not
kept idle at Boston. Sailing from that port on the
10th Of August. Captain Hull sighted and soon en-
conntered his old enemy the Guerrero The particu
lars of the action have been q hundred times related
and need not here DO told again No victory ever
made deeper moral impression. There was no talk
of absolute British supremacy at sea afterward.
The old ship, which had been badly knocked about
went back to Boston relt after battle which was
decided in her favor IN about half an hour. The
first serious conflict of the was Immortality for
the Constitution Hull hOnorably gave up the
command OF the ship under the influence of feel