The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-01-06
SHIPS FOR THE FAIR.
WAR VESSELS WHICH SHOULD
BE HONORED AT CHICAGO,
The Gallant Record OF the Consti.
tuition. Better Known as "Old
Ironsides" - Americas
Four Big Frigates.

honored old age, should not be dis.
regarded in the great centennial cele-
bration at Chicago. When in 1S4S she
had become q mere hulk, and it was
proposed to break her up, Olive: Wendell
Holmes wrote this vigorous protest:
Aye, tear her battered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high. :
And many an eye has danced to see
Tha banner in the sky.
DR.. Holiness poem called forth such
an outburst of popular indignation at the
proposed destruction of Old Ironsides
that in 1850 she was rebuilt at more than
her original cost by the son of Hart, her
first builder. If the noble old frigate is
not present at the Worlds Fair it should
call forth widespread dissatisfaction.
The British Navy will be represented
there in models OF both the old and new
types of ships. The Victory will
probably float the ensign that never
quailed until the Constitution opened
her %broadsides and leveled its pride.
How CALLING it would be to the old
| Constitution if the British Naval flag
foated at the Fair, while she wa lying
forgotten and neglected in far.of Ports.
mouth a,.
OF all the ships in the American Navy
there was no other that did SO much to
level British naval pride as the Constitu-
ton, and there was no other which the
English were so anxious to capture.
High rewards and rapid promotion in
ranks awaited the British commander
who sailed into Spithead with the
dreaded Constitution as a prize. When
she escaped the British squadron in 1912
Captain Byron, of the pursuing squad
ron, wrote to a friend in London:
"Nothing can exceed my modification
from the extraordinary escape of the
American frigate." When IN 1915 the
Constitution again almost mir%aculously
escaped a powerful British squadron,
which had followed her from Boston
across the Atlantic to the coast Of Por-
tugal, the British commander is said to.
have committed suicide from the chsgrin
over his failure to capture the hated
Constitution.
This noble ship in the Wa of 1912
captured over 1000 able. bodied prison
ers, killed nearly 100 English blue
Jackets and wounded more than 200; a
better record than that made by any
American army in. that war.
The four great frigates of the Ameri-
can Navy in the first fifty years of our
| national existence are the Constitution,
Constellation, United States and Presi-
dent. All these ships or their proto.
types are in existence to-day except the
| United States. The Constitution is at
Portsmouth, the Constellation at New
London, and the President at the West
India, South Docks, London, England.
All these frigates were launched within
a short time of each other, and those
still in existence are approaching their
centennial year. They are the represen-
tatlve types Of the marine force that
made the United States a possibility.
The Navy of the Revolution, including
privateers, which were no less that the
militia of the sea, took more than "a, 600
prisoners of war, or twice as many
as the Army did in the entire struggle,
besides carrying the war into the enelny's
country, and nearly annihilating her
commerce. In this country's two years
war with France, the work was all done
by the marine forces, and nearly loo yes.
| sells were captured from the French,
while only one American warship was
lost, and that one was only recaptured.
Again in the wal with the States of Bar
barry the fighting was all done by the
Navy, which succeeded where European
nations had failed. In the War of 1912
56S vessels were taken from the enemy.
Allowing the moderate estimate Of thirty
men to each captured vessel (some of them
having over 400 men) you have q total of
over AZ, 900 able. bodied men taken from
the enemy in that struggle-most of
them seamen whom England could least
afford to lose. Did the American armies
capture one-thirtieth or even one-fortieth
part of the number Of English soldiers
in this war2
If Welland Canal is not too small, the
Constitution should by all mean take
the place of honor at the naval exhibit of
the Worlds Fair.
The fourth ship, the President, was
captured by a British squadron after a
long chase; Although this frigate made
no important captures in the war and
was regarded as an unlucky ship, yet
she always occupied a large place in the
affections of the people. This was the
frigate which was challenged by the
Guerrero to single combat at the out
break of the war. The challenge was as
singularly worded as the events which
followed it were strange. "Captain
Dacres, commander of His Britannia
Majesty's ship Guerrero, presents his
compliments to Commodore Rodgers, of
the United States frigate President, and
will be very happy to meet him or any
other American frigate of equal force to
the President off Sandy Hook, for the
purpose OF having a social tete-a-tete."
The Guerrero did not have the satisfac-
ton of meeting the President, but she
met her sister, the Constitution and his
tory informs US that the tete.a-tete was
entirely satisfactory-to the Constitu-
ton. .
The President also was endeared to
the American people on account of her