The Unbeaten "Constitution" 



Step on board with us and see the guns 

 that won thirty-nine glorious victories 



By Thomas Stanley Curtis 



THE frigate Constitution, fighter of 

 thirty-nine battles and winner of 

 every one of them, to-day offers 

 the student an exceptional opportunity 

 to compare the naval fighting machine of 

 a hundred years ago with the super- 

 dreadnought of the hour. Peacefully 

 floating at a wharf in the Charlestown, 

 Mass., Navy Yard, "Old Ironsides" 

 speaks volumes to the thoughtful visitor 

 who has perhaps just a few minutes 

 before stepped 

 down the gangway 

 of a modern ship. 



In the war of 

 1812, after a long 

 series of brilliant 

 exploits, the Con- 

 stitution, under 

 command of Com- 

 modore Hull, sum- 

 marily defeated 

 the British ship 

 Guerierre in an en- 

 gagement which 

 lasted but a scant 

 hour and a half. 



On the nineteenth day of August, the 

 commander of the Constitution received 

 word from the captain of an American 

 brig that a British frigate had been 

 sighted cruising in the vicinity. Acting 

 on the information, Hull immediately 

 gave chase in the direction indicated and 

 at 2 o'clock p. m. the Guerierre was 

 sighted. After a three-hour run, the 

 Constitution came within range of the 

 enemy's guns and the Guerierre let go a 

 broadside, which, however, did no dam- 

 age. Turning, the British ship fired her 

 port broadside and scored two hits. For 

 three-quarters of an hour the enemy dis- 

 charged alternate broadsides with little 

 effect while the American ship replied 

 only with her bow guns. 



At 6:05 p. m. the Constitution had 

 closed in on the Guerierre and for the 

 next few minutes both ships fired one 

 broadside after another at a range of 

 some two hundred yards. After ten 

 minutes, Hull opened at close range with 

 his whole broadside and the Guerierre' s 



Constitution fighting the Guerierre. 

 The most famous battle of Old Iron- 

 sides. Reproduced from an old print 



mizzen mast went over on the leeward 

 side. At this stage the American com- 

 mander determined to cross the bow of 

 the enemy and rake his deck with a 

 broadside. Disabled in her rigging, how- 

 ever, the ship failed to answer the helm 

 quickly. After two terrific broadsides 

 had swept the deck and pierced the hull 

 of the British ship, practically dead- 

 locked to the enemy and already weak- 

 ened by the raking fire, the Guerierre 

 was worked up in- 

 to the wind against 

 her helm by the 

 fallen mizzen mast 

 and thus brought 

 directly under the 

 guns of the Con- 

 stitution. As the 

 American ship 

 pulled away, the 

 two remaining 

 masts of the 

 Guerierre were shot 

 away and the Brit- 

 ish ship was a total 

 wreck with her 

 guns of the main deck under water. 

 The engagement ended at 6 30 with the 

 surrender of Captain Dacres of the 

 Guerierre. 



From this brief account of a typical 

 naval battle of the time, the reader will 

 note that the conflict was little short of 

 hand-to-hand; towards the close of the 

 engagement the contestants were actual- 

 ly locked together with the bowsprit of 

 the one fouled in the rigging of the other. 

 To-day the contestants scarcely see each 

 other's ships. Whereas the fighters of a 

 hundred years ago could actually see the 

 whites of each other's eyes, now there is 

 not a living thing visible on the deck of 

 a ship in action. The gunners of the 

 Constitution could "draw bead" on the 

 hull or deck of the Guerierre, and when 

 they wished to elevate a gun they 

 would tilt the muzzle by withdrawing a 

 wooden wedge beneath the breach. To- 

 day the gunner seldom sees" his target; 

 his range is given him in figures through a 

 telephone and he fires at signal: the 



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