Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-09-16
SAVED BY UMBRELLAS.
How an American Frigate Escaped from
Il British Fleet in 1912.


have before me copy Tor part Of one)
Of HaIper'S Weekly of December 81, 1881,
giving a sketch OF the escape of the frigate
Constitution from feet of English men,
of-war in July, 1872 writes = correspond
ent to the Ldgreuce american. When q
small boy heard the escape Of the Con-
stitutiOn was by means of umbrellas, but |
never knew in what way until Mr.. Wood
well told me the following history. ! was
well acquainted with Mr.. Gideon Wood
well, of Newburyport, Mass, who was 4
ship carpenter at the time of the chase on
board of the ConstitutiOn-and As far back
as 1928 10 1884 Mr. MCDOWELL and the
writer of this were at work alongside OF
each other on three or four different yes
sells in Newburyport, and at that time Mr..
MCDOWELL related the history OF the escape
of that ship When the Guerrero and
those other ships were first sighted,
Captain Hull was well satisfied they We're
not Americans. He held little consu!ta-
ton with his officers, and it was decided
to Get ready at once, III case of emergency.
CAPTAIN Hall was satisfied if they We're
English ships-of-war every boat would be
sent to the nearest frigate TO help her up
to cripple the Constitution. Mr.. Wood
well SAYS We had j number of white
oak sticks OF timber, from Y to Is feet
long, from to inches square, then in the
lower hold of The ship. The boatSwain
was ordered to have them on deck; the
carpenters went to work. four of the sticks
were reduced to 3 inches ut the
small end and at the other ;
in the upper or small end of the stick a
hole was put through to receive line,
and the same in the butt or large end. The
,aiI-makers were set to work with some Of
the men who could handle the needle, and
4 covering of canvas, in the shape Of an
umbrella, was soon finished from y to -
feet long and from % TO u feet across, and
some small spars were reduced TO about 3
or 3! inches, and cut the required length,
and four of these sticks were put into each
canvas. The upper or forward end Of
these sticks was held together by Ian
yard, and the after end was stopped to the
canvas with a lanyard rope through and
made fast at the butt end Of the stick.
These sticks were made fast to the can
vas only at the after end In varying the
ship. the canvas would have full sweep
straight.) Instead OF sticks, lanyards
made fast in the bolt rope and at the butt
OF the stick. The next morning, as soon
as Captain Hull saw all the boats sent to
help the Shannon up (the nearest English
frigate), four boats were dropped from the
Constitution and pulling under her bows
from eight TO ten fathoms Of line paid
down to each boat, one end made fast to a
ringbolt in the stern Of the boat the other
end fast TO the forward end Of thesm-
breiia. The umbrella was dropped into
the water, with line fast to the butt or
after end. Then came the word, Give
away, boys" In pulling from the ship
the umbrella would shut up, and in pulling
on board the umbrella would open. The
lines fast to the umbrella were from
so to 100 fath0ms in length. BY this ar
rangement but one boat was pulling
from the ship at the same time, and in
warping the ship each boats crew would
he on their oars and were always ready to
give away when the word was given, and
in this way the crew would warp the ship
through the waters from five to six miles
per hour, and with this arrangement, had
il continued calm, the whole English feet
could not have captured the Constitution
Mr.. MCDOWELL says, with all the boats the
Shannon had, they could not make as much
Roadway as the Constitution, and for two
reasons the officers Of the Shannon did not
want to get within good gunshot of the
Constitution while the other ships were so
far off; one reason was that he was salts
fed the Constitution with her after guns
would destroy her boats and part of the
crews 10 each boat; and the second reason
was that he did not want to engage the
Constitution alone, knowing that ne had
powerful antagonist TO contend with. At
ter nearly seventy hours OF very little va
ration in the weather, . light southerly
breeze sprang UP, which brought the Con-
stitution to windward. The boats were
dropped alongside, tackles hooked on, each
boat lifted out Of the water, yards braced
to the wind, with the port tacE,s aboard
and working to windward like a thing of
life, decks cleared up, boats hoisted in, and
the grips put on and made fast, the whole
ships crew as merry as a hive Of bees, and
locking back on the past seventy hours
more like a pleasure excursion than one Of
danger.