Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-04-14
OLD IRONSIDES.
HISTORY OF ONE OF THE OLD SHIPS
IN THE AMERICAN NAVY.

on the Part of Patriotic People of To
day, Who Are Proud of Her.
Not many people may know that the
old frigate Constitution. 50 renowned ii
our annals, is still included among the
vessels of the navy. She is dismantled
as might be expected at her age. and i:
kept in that condition at Portsmouth
n. H. She is craft of 2.200 tons dis
placement, and now carries no battery
In place of the forty-four guns of the
days of her glory.
1t was the Constitution that, after the
inauspicious opening ON land of our wal
with Great Britain, eighty years ago
led off series of splendid victories on
the sea. The honor of the first capture
of British war vessel undoubtedly be-
longs to the Essex, Captain David Por.
ter, whose defeat of the Alert occurred
six days before the Constitution de.
stroyed the Guerriere.
But the Essex carried thirty-two 80
Founders and the Alert only twenty 1S-
Founders, so that very soon after open.
ing fire the crew of the little British
craft, which, having captured one of ou1
transports had made up to the Essex
taking her to be a merchantman, were
compelled to quit their guns and within
eight minutes to strike their flag. This
conquest, though gratifying. was in
evitable, whereas that of the Constitu-
tion was gained over craft nearer her
own size and strength.
But while yielding the laurels of prior.
ity to the gallant Essex on this score,
the Constitution, under Captain Isaac
Hull, can claim them again for success
in trial of seamanship between herself
and British squadron. Till then af-
fairs were looking gloomy for US at sea
as well as on land. The British frigate
Belvidere, while conveying a feet OF
merchantmen, had escaped from a
whole squadron of our warships, where
as our Nautilus had struck to an
English squadron, being the first war
ship captured on either side. Under
these untoward circumstances the Con
stitution, returning from Europe, fell in
with British squadron led by the
Africa, 64-gun ship.
During four days she was chased by
this squadron. Through calm and
through breeze the flight and pursuit
went ON. At one time she had boats out
towing her: at another her crew were
hauling upon kedge anchor that had
been carried out and dropped a long dis,
tance ahead. On the fourth day the
longed for wind came, and with every
sail set the Constitution drew away from
her pursuers, the scene when five frig-
ates were standing on the same tack and
the Constitution was showing her heels
to her enemies being often recounted
eighty years ago. Some of the historians
describe this as the first oS our triumphs
on the sea in that war.
But in our time, of course, the fame
of the Constitution is more familiarly
associated with her capture of the Guer.
riere. 1t was on Aug. 10, 1912, that the
two vessels met, both eager for fight.
The scene was off the coast of Massachu-
sets. The British craft, commanded
by the gallant Dacres, was first to open
fire, but Hull maneuvered his vessel into
the right position before he replied. The
enemy's mizzenmast soon went by the
board, followed by her mainmast. When
she struck she was, in fact, so complete
ly used up that she could not be taken
into port and had to be blown up.
The Constitution was superior in ton
mage and complement, carried more
guns and threw much heavier weight
of metal in her broadsides; still the ves-
sells were near enough matched for the
victory to produce tremendous impress
sion on both sides of the ocean. Alison
describes the ''shock of this unwonted
naval disaster" in England, where the
belief that Britannia ruled the waves
was so profound that the American navy
had seemed to be a mere mouthful for
her.
That same year the Constitution, un-
der cambridge, gained another great
victory over the Java, off the coast of
Brazil. The Java, like her predecessor,
was 3S-gun ship, and in the battle she
lost foremast and mizzenmast, besides a
part of her bowsprit; while, to complete
the parallel, like the Guerriere, she was
so wrecked in the fight that she had to
be blown up. 1t was great exhibition
of good seamanship and superior gun
merry ON the part of the American vessel;
for, as Cooper says, ''the Java had been
literally picked to pieces by shot, spar
following spar until she had not one
left" Her loss in killed and wounded
was very heavy.
Finally, in 1915. under command of
Commodore Stewart, the famous old ship
made double capture of the British
frigate Cyane and sloop Levant.
Old Ironsides, as she had come to be
called during the war, was launched at
Boston in 1897; and who knows but
when the hundredth anniversary of that
event comes around she may again be
put into commission, so as to receive CEN
tennial honors:-New York Sun.