The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-12-31
AN OLD SEA DOG.
The Old -onsliu. on al las. 6 oes Out
OF Service.

| After many years u! hono.g.j srrvI'. the
Old trigare ConstIuti,@ has al last been pro
nounced unseaworthy and put ont of com
ini>>"n al the brooklyn Navy Yard H.
teG"s1ing rs the story of nrr career is in it.
| sell: it still derives additional interest from
| he fact that OF her most honored off
| GERS, during the period in which she won
| her highest distinction, was an esteemed
| citizen of Cecil county and a resident of the
! town of Elktan. We refer 70 the late Or.
| Amos Alexander Evans, father of the Hon.
! Alexander Evans. DIR. Evans was assigned,
! t, the Constitutions, which WAS then living
oft Annapolis, on the 10Th of March, 1872.
| She sailed on the 9th of July following, and
| nli the 18th of the same month began that
| memorable chase by III" British squadron,
| and escape of the Constitution. He was an
| eyewitness of her subsequent engagement
| with the Guerrieye, a victory which bore
such important fruits. and also witnessed
! later the capture of the British frigate Jor".
Nearly fifty years ago an order was issued
from tie Navy Department directing that
| she should be broken Ep. DR.. Oliver Wen
| dell Holmes took Il poet ; view of the mat
| ter and wrote his well known lyric, begin
| ming " -iy. tear her tattered cn>i -n down
| His verses had an excellent effect, and the
orsler was recalled. All such ships have a
history, and the history of this one is excrl-
rionally Interesting. If it We're Il matter of
! wiring her obituary, there would be no de-
| fault of detail. She was one of the six frig
| tt"s ordered in 1874 by Congress to be Com
| plete.i, launched and put into commission.
| 1t is curious fact That when Cooper wrote
his Naval History. three Of these ships, viz,
! the inite& States the Constellation and the
| ConSfHVtjnn were still aiipat and i'll the ser
vice neither having been long ont Of com
| mission. The Constitution carried orty-tour
runs. She with the Other ships had been
| rrt atioat the year previous. She was
| large vessel, with batteries of thirty twenty
tour Founders on her gun derk-such ship
rs the English We're then in the habit of
rating lis a thirf weight. She Went into the
| West India Squadron under the command
Of Captain Samuel Nicholson and under
| the tlig of Commodore Barry, then senior
o iicer Of the service with general rendeZ-
vou< at Prince Hupert's Bay. Her eousorts
mad" several important captures from the
| French. buf there is no special mention OF
! her own. Fer crew We're engaged in tine
| cutting out of a French letter of marlue at
| Port au Platte, under The command Gf Mr..
| Hull an officer aTlerward TO I've distinguished.
| The Constitution did not emerge into her
! private aud personal glory until some time
| after. Congress. in 1901, saved her from
rhe ignominy Of being disposed of. In 1901
She WAS in the squadron operating against
Tripol under Prehle, and distinguished her.
self by her fierce attack upon the town, bat
| reries and castle. 1t was remarked at the
rme that, though she Was long within the
reach of the enemy's grape, many of which
hit her. she had not Il man hurt. In fact,
she was always lucky ship. In this
ton she had several of her shrouds, back
stays, ;ru>Ses, spring-~tays, chains, lifts and
| I great deal of her running rigging shot
| away, and yet her hull was hardly touched.
| The Constitution wua no more especial
| 'aurels until our war with Great Britain in
| 1872: but then the days of her great glory
| were ut hand. She had Just before been
sent to Europe, under the command of Cap
tain Hull, having on board specie for the
payment Of the interest on the debt due i'll
Holland. After a short stop, having full
Tiled her commission, AZ Portsmouth,, Eng
land she sailed, and outsailei several Eng
fish men-of-war sent in pursuit of her, as
there had been some difficulty while she
was in port about deScrterS. The opening
If the war found her at home. On the 18th
of July, 1872, still! under command of Cap
tain Hull, she sailed from Annapolis and
stood to the uorthwarl. On Friday, July
| Eth she discovered Il sail to the northward
md eastward, which subsequently proved
10 he the GUe,ricrc. But the Constitution
was soon encountered by British fleet, and
then began that chase, unexampled in naval
| InnalS, which rebounds much TO the
| glory of the officers and men of the ConSti-
| !njion. She sailed proudly into Boston with
| I record OF Seamanship which has never
been surpassed. and never will be-, and which
places Captain Hull among the first of naval
commanders of any age. But the Constttu-
ion WAS not kept idle At Boston. Sailing
rom that port Oh the l9rh of August, Cap
| tain Hull 81 shtc,l and soon encountered his
Did eutinv. the GUrlriere. The particulars
If the action have been a hundred times
related and need not here be told again.
No victory ever made IA deeper moral i'm
preston There was no talk Of absolute
British Supremacy at sea aiterward. The
lid ship which had been badly knocked
bout, went back to Boston to ret;, after Il
batrle which was decided in her favor in
,hoat half an hour. The first serious con
lict of the war was Immortality for the Con-
h;t"ti"R. Hull h0norably gave up the com
rnand OF the shin, under the influence of Il
feeling that others should h- allowed to dis
inguiSh themselves.
The Constitution then Went into the hands
# Captain Bainbridge, and sailed with the
Fiorac' on the Goth of October, 1912. On
he Goth Of December she captured the Brit
ssh iri.ate .Jar0. When Bainbridge gave
up the command of the Constitution in ISIS,
he was found TO be in very lecayed con-
lition: and then began those repairs to
which she has been so often subjected
When she sailed again she was under the
Command of Captain Charles Stewart. Be
ilre he came back, after Il cruise in the West
indies, he captured few prizes and the
nan of-war schooner Pictpu. Capt. Stew
,rt sailed again from Boston III Decem ber
1914. The luck of the ship did not desert
Ter. Captain Stewart, February %, 1915,
,aptured II. 3. NJ. ship Cnnoe, ~, and the
,ipop-of- war Lrcoht, p. These were famous
naval actions in their day, and are not yet
\ nrg',tttn. They are the last exploits of the
'eady to speak airctionately us ''Old Iron
| .idcs.'' When there d talk of running
Commodore Stewart for the Presidency,
hey gave the name To him. Her service
'urlng the var may he summed up as fol-
lows in the course OF two years and nine
months She had been in three actions, had
Been twice dangerously pursued, and had
aiken five vessels of war. Sailors boosted
VI her, as they told how she had never been
shore and never disma>te,!. She had been
lighting ali her life. with constant success
md with Il minimum of loss. Naval hiSto-
rians explain her good fortune by the fact
that She had always been well commanded.
West of her crews, during her last two
| cruises, We're hardy New England men al
most as we'll qualified TO fight the ship as
l. | her officers.