Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-22

CONSTITUTIONS Present Appearance.
petition to the House of Representatives
asking that the vessel be repaired. so that
she might be again placed in commission as
training ship.
Rear Admiral Caps was sent by Secre-
tary Moody to Boston to inspect the ship.
He found the planking tn fairly good con-
dition. but many of the t1mbers were
found rotten.
He reported that the old craft could not
be made fit for service unless she were
practically reconstructed.
Rear Admiral Caps closed his recon-
mendations with the words:
ut is believed that such an arrangement,
II carried out. would preserve the senti-
mental associations connected with the
Constitution in the most practical manner.
and would permit the perpetuation of the
historic name Constitutional transferring
1t to the most formidable type of modern
battle Ship"
The Constitutions Career.
During the war of 1872 she went into
action four times in less than three years
and captured five ships-the Guerrero.
Java. Picton, Cyane and Levant-of which
three were frigates and one was frigate
built: after one Of the most memorable sea-
chases in naval annals she escaped un-
harmed from an energetic squadron Of five
ships. running the gamut of rates from
VI > W Do 81 DoIOTc lTIpOu SOOQ Ituitc
was remarkable; and In all her service she
was never dismasted. never went ashore,
and, indeed, rarely encountered any Of the
usual accidents of the sea. Though often
in battle, no serious slaughter ever made
shambles of her decks. and. as Cooper
points out in all her fghting-and hard
and fast and furious this was at seasons
she had only one captain wounded and but
four lieutenants killed.
The Constitution and her seamateS came
into the service when the people demanded
frigates as remedies of desperation. Dur
Ing the twelve years succeeding the revo.u-
tionary war no regular ships were commits
stoned. and this inactivity, due to exhaus-
ton. poverty and ignorance, ended only
when the country wearied of the depreda-
tiOns imposed upon our trade and citizens
by those discriminating cutthroats of the
Barbary coast. who saw fair game IN the
struggling republic. Tired of the capture
and Imprisonment of Americans, Congress
In 1874 authorized the construction or pur-
chase of ships. President Washington
wisely determined to build, and finally ac-
cepting the designs OF Joshua HUMPHREYS
oe Philadelphia. ordered the frigates Con-
stitution. President and United States. AIS.
and the Chesapeake, Constellation and Con-
gress, 38's
The Constitutions keel was laid in Bos-
ton and here she was launched on the 21st
of october. 1897.
Fight With the Guerrero.
Her first notable engagement was with
the British Guerrero. August 10. 1912.
According to an article prepared some
years ago by Lieut.. Commander Jerrald
Kelley of the navy. the action was begun
at pm. by the British ship opening fire at
long range. At pm. she surrendered,
after a gallant fight, during which both
parties had attempted to board, but, owing
to the heavy sea. without success. The
Constitution suffered a great deal In her
sails and rigging, very little in her hull.
while the Guerrero was so dismasted that
the ensign, finally struck, ffuttered from
the stump of the mizzenmast. When
proud Dacres came on board for to deliver
up his sword" Hull refused to receive 1t
well: but. as the story goes. troubled him
for that hat which weeks before. while
the two ships were lying in the Delaware,
they had bet on the result of fight be-
AS there were more captains than ships.
Hull graciously relinquished his command
to cambridge.
Fight With the Java.
On the 26th of December. after parting
company with the Hornet. her consort. the
Constitution, then cruising off the Brazil
coast, engaged and captured the frigate
Java, 80. Captain Lambert. The American
went into action with her royal yards
crossed. and came out Of 1t with these in
place and without losing spar. The Java.
well handled and fought, was dismasted
and badly hulled and lost her gallant COM
mander. Captain cambridge was severely
wounded, and Lieutenant Alwyn was killed,
but otherwise our loss was slight The
wounded and prisoners and large number
of passengers bound to India were trans
ferred to the Constitution, and Brazil
was an unfriendly power the Java was
blown up.
Captain Charles Stewart succeeded Balm
bridge, but did not get to sea as speedily as
his eager spirit yearned. After capturing
the Picton, 16. and some merchant prizes in
the West Indies, ard after escaping from a
ship of the line in the Bay of Biscay, Stew
art, in February 1915, off the peninsular
coast, picked up speedy stranger on his
port bow. A light levanter was blowing,
and twenty minutes after Stewart had haul
ed up in chase, another vessel, still further
to windward, was sighted.
Stewart Not Daunted.
Both proved to be ships of war. country
men. evidently. for they exchanged signals.
Nothing daunted. the American crowded
sail and stood up the wind after them. all
three straining a bowline. The Constitution
was going SO much the fastest that by four
bells In the first dog watch-6 oclock-she
had the enemy under her battery. Then she
showed her colors, that rag of striped bunt-
ing-that tattered ensign which neither then
nor afterward was hauled down. The Eng
hshmen answered with defiant victory
hoist, and Ave minutes later Stewart ranged