Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-27
MODEL OF l|ROnS|DES'
Now Being Prepared at the Ma
tionaI Museum
FOR PUBLIC EXHIBITION
Story of the Famous Old Frigate Con-
stitution.
HOW THE VESSEL WAS BUILT
Paul Revere Supplied the Copper for
Her HulI-Her Notable Victory
Over the Guerrero.

Written for The Star by Dorothea Lathrop Huber.
At the National Museum there is being
completed a model of the Constitution, or
''Old Ironsides," that famous old United
States frigate which the Secretary of the
Navy has recommended for destruction.
This model is almost finished, and within
short time it will be placed on public ex-
hibition. The model is built over the
original plans of the old frigate from
the drawings of the Navy Department.
To Charles r. Luscomb the ship modeler
for the museum, has been assigned the
interesting task Of completing the model
of this old frigate, so that whatever may
be the fate of the old ship its memory
will be perpetuated by a visible object
The model viii be three feet and one
inch long from the end of the jib-boom to
the spanker boom. The scale is three
sixteenths of an inch to foot and this.
makes the blocks-some double and some
single-about the size of small grains of
corn. There are 400 of these blocks, and
the holes in them are SO small that the
ropes and ratlines had to be threaded
through with a needle. The many sails
are all accurately placed, and machine
stitched Dainty little fingers represent
the reef points. Even the guns are made
to the scale, and they as well as every
thing about the model have been made
by Mr.. Iuscomb The entire battery in
cludes fifty-four. howitzers, two can
mons and Long Tom"
Upon it's completion the Little IRON
sides" VIII be placed in the hall of his
tory in the museum as a fitting COM
panion to the Viking ships, May Flower
and Sally Constant. A model of the Sa-
nora Maria. will shortly be built for the
museum, which will complete the group
of ships which have played such an i'm
portant part in the colonization and in
dependence of the United States
Old Ironsides! The name is hallowed with
memories of deeds of valor and bravery, not
only to the older population, but to the
schoolboy and girl as we'll It reminds
Americans of glorious days in the history of
the sea, where brave men fought aboard
ship equipped at that time with the most
modern fittings and appliances at hand, but
which, after the march of a century, seem
primitive indeed.
The monster petition presented before
Congress, signed by thousands of citizens of
Massachusetts, urging steps to preserve to
posterity the grand old relic, attests in 1t
self the love and patriotism of the real
American. The petitio mis- forty-two inches
wide, and the names written ten on
line i IL placed one below the other the
petition would make a scroll that If sus-
pended wouid@be three times as high as the
Washington monument.
How the Constitution Was Built.
The system under which the Constitution
was built seems to have been radically diff
ferent from the present mode. The mate
rails for the hull and equipment were pur-
chased by the Treasury Department and
supplied TO the Elders.
The first tree felled for the Constitution
was an oak on st. Simons Island, off the
mouth of the Altamamaha river. The stump
stood for many years as Constitution Oak.
The best of live oak timbers were used in
the frames, and the construction proceeded
with unusual care 1t is an interesting fact
that Paul Revere supplied the copper for
the hull; also the copper bolts and spikes
were forged by a process known only to
him.
The Constitution was completed and equip
ped for sea in 1877. The date originally
fixed for the launching was September 20,
but she disappointed a large number of
spectators by sticking the ways. She slid
off before the shores were knocked out and
injured her false keel and rudder brace so
that she had to be hove down for repairs.