The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-19
CENTENNIAL OF FAMOUS
 BATTLE ON THE SEA


 A victory of which Americans nev- CT tire of boasting was that won by the United States frigate, the Consti- tuition, over the British frigate Guer- riere just a century ago today, Aug. 19, 1872. The Constitution, popularly known as "Old Ironsides' because of the hardness of her blanks and tim, her baptism of fire in the warfare against the pirates of the Barbary coast. Built of wood and propelled by sail, the Constitution bore no re- semblance to the fighting craft of to- day. Her length was 175 feet, or only about third that of the great dreadnought of today. Her displace- ment of 2,200 tons was about tenth that of the modern Warship. In per- sonnel the difference is not so great. as the Constitution carried 460 men, about half as many as make up the force of a dreadnougt "O1d Iron sides had speed of thirteen knots, comparing with the twenty-one knots that is the average speed of the present brides of the worlds navies. Her main battery consisted of twen- ty-two 32 pounders, the same num- Der of 24 pounders, and one Is pounder. These guns were capable weight of 6s4 pounds, while a mod ern dreadnought can send nearly 10,- 000 pounds of deadly projectiles crashing into its foe. The naval bud get of a century ago showed that 1t cost about $2O0,o0o a year for the three or four times as much is re- quired for a modern ship. of war. The Constitutions original cost was $300,000, while dreadnought costs between eight and twelve millions.
 Capt. Hull was in command of the Constitution and Capt. Laeres of the Guerriere in the momentous maya! conflict which took place a century ago today. The vessels were about evenly matched in size, armament and number of men. The English ship started the engagement, and for a full. hour the vessels exchanged lead en compliments. Broadside after broadside was fired, the space be- tween the ships gradually growing less, until they came within pistol shot and raked one another's decks with a terrible cannonade. Soon tho vessels got foul of each other, the Guerriere's mizzen mast came tumb- ling down, and the Americans at- tempted to board. The English pour ed a muFderous fire into the would be boarders, and the Americans were forced back, but not until after Capt. Lacres was severely wounded and the Guerriere, minus mainmast and fore
 
 Further defense was useless and the English ship struck her colors. The Guerriere was sinking and had to be blown up, while the Constitution was also badly battered and had to re- turn to Boston for repairs. The Con- stitution performed many other val- orous feats during the subsequent years of the war, and became the l idol of the people of the United States. The fame of '"Old Ironsides'' has been perpetuated in poem of tthat name, by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Naval battles century ago were very different from the long distance
 affairs of today. When enemies met
 on the seas in 1912 their first effort
 was to damage or destroy the rnasts 1 and sails which were the motive pow I CT of the foe. Then the ships usually l met in death grapple, side by side l and fired away at each other with 1 the muzzles of their guns nearly | touching. Pistol, outlass and board. 1 ing pike were part of the armament l of each man, and terrible hand to. hand struggles between the crews were of frequent occurrence. In these bloody engagements it was often diff. 1 ficult to distinguish between frien6 l and foe, as the powder used in those i days gave forth dense clouds of smoke \ that nhSCHFod the