Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-21
..OLD lRONSIDES"
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
OLD YESTERDAY.
OLD IRoNsIDEs.


fAnd burst the lannon's roar
The meteor of the ocean air
Shell sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck. once red with heroes blood,
Where knelt the vanQuished foe,
When winds were hurrying Ger the flood,
And waves. were white below.
No more shall feed the victors tread,
Or know the conquered knee
The harpies on the shore shall pluck
The eagles Of the sea-
Oh. better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
Old Ironsides was one hundred years
old yesterday. September 20, 1897, was
the day set for the launching of the old
battleship, and now, century after the
historic event, she still survives the
wear and tear of peace and war. Char
lestown harbor, Boston, was where the
launching took place. The American
navy is, therefore, just century old,
for the Constitution was one of the first
battleships built by the then youthful
government, after it had achieved its
independence.
1t will be a source Of patriotic re-
joicing to Americans that "Old Iron
sides" is to be present on this occa-
sion. She was one of the first trio of
battleships built by the United States,
and is by odds the most famous vessel
that ever floated the American flag. To
survive the dangers of war and, what
is sometimes more wasting, the decay
of peace, though 100 years is a record
more remarkablesfor = ship than for
man, and "Old Ironsides" deserves all
the praise lavished on her in speech
associations of which are enwrapped
with so many names familiar in our
history, or that can boast such rec
ord of gallant achievements by Amer
lean taIs.
Hull, Bainbridge, Decatur, Rodgers
and Stewart were among her captains.
Paul Revere furnished the brass bolts
and spikes trat went into her sturdy
frame. Betsy Ross, mother of the
American flag" sewed the great banner
of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes that
floated above her when she first breast
ed the waves. Holmes wrote an ode to
her that is familiar to every school
boy. Lord Byron was once a guest on
board and Captain Dacres, afterwards
a British admiral, was entertained
there as a prisoner. Her record dur
ing the war of 1912 included the cap
ture Of three first-class British frigates,
154 guns, 900 prisoners and property
worth above s1,O0O,OOO. Truly if ever
a ship deserved to have her birthday
remembered in her ripe old age the
Constitution does
1t was in 1894, in view of the trou-
bles with Algiers, that President Wash
ington and Gen. Henry Knox, secre-
tary of War (the navy was not then
separate Department., recommended
the building of a number of first-class
frigates. The country was then with
out single man of war. The few
merchant vessels that had been hastily
fitted out for service in the Revolution
bod ion, 10
their earlier uses. Congress was by no
means a unit on the plan to establish
a navy, and the bill for the building of
six frigates of mot less than thirty
two guns" had majority of only two
votes in the House of Representatives
Of the six vessels thus provided for
only three were at once built. They
were the Constitution, of forty-four
guns, 1876 tons burden, and costing
S302,719, which was built at Charles
town; the United States of the same
size, built at Philadelphia, and the
Constellation, of thirty-six guns and
1895 tons, built at Baltimore. They
were all of American plan and build;
the designer was Mr.. Joshua Humph-
reys, of Philadelphia. That he was
man of vigorous ideas is shown by his
response to General Knox when the
latter asked him to submit designs for
the proposed ships. He said:
IF we build ships of the same size of
the Europeans (they having so great a
number of them), we shall always be
behind them. l would build them of
larger size than theirs land take the lead
Of them, which is the only safe way of
beginning a navy"
This wise counsel was adopted, and
the Constitution, with an armament
that was increased to fifty-five guns,
was more powerful than any frigate of
1.-The Europeans"
Although the Constitution was after
wards reckoned the luckiest ship of
the navy, her launching was not alto
gether suspicious. 1t had been arrang-
ed to send her off the ways on Septem-
Der 20, but after moving a few feet the
ship stuck, and it was found that the
dock on which she rested had settled.
A second attempt was also unsuccess-
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