Her Sides Are Made of Iron

In the summer of 1812 the U.S. Navy had 22 commissioned warships. Britain had more than 80 off the American coast alone. On land the war was going badly. On 16 August Gen. William Hull surrendered Detroit. Three days later, far out in the Atlantic, his nephew gave the country its answer.

1. 21 October 1797 · Boston

   Built to beat anything her size

   The Naval Act of 27 March 1794 orders six frigates. Philadelphia shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys designs them longer, stronger and more heavily armed than any frigate afloat. Constitution goes down the ways at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston. Her timbers come from Maine to Georgia. Paul Revere supplies her copper bolts and spikes. She costs $302,719.

2. 17 July 1812 · Off Egg Harbor, N.J.

   Five against one

   A month into the war, dawn shows Capt. Isaac Hull a British squadron in chase: a ship of the line and four frigates, Shannon and Guerriere among them. Then the wind dies. Hull’s boats tow the 2,200-ton frigate by oar, but British boats tow faster. First Lt. Charles Morris notes the water is only 24 fathoms deep and proposes kedging: row an anchor ahead, drop it, and haul the ship up to it on the capstan.

   Capt. Hull to the Secretary of the NavyIt soon appeared that we must be taken, and that our Escape was impossible.
3. 18 July 1812 · Evening

   The squall

   Hour after hour the crew kedges, pumps drinking water over the side to lighten her, and wets the sails to catch every breath of air. By late afternoon Constitution leads by three or four miles. A rain squall comes on. Hull shortens sail as if to ride it out, and the British copy him. Then he crowds on canvas and runs at 11 knots. By morning the squadron gives up.

4. 19 August 1812 · 14:00

   Sail ho

   Constitution has sailed from Boston on 2 August. Now, southeast of Halifax, the masthead spots a sail. It is HMS Guerriere, 49 guns, the frigate that started the July chase, and this time she is alone. Hull clears for action. His crew gives three cheers and asks to be laid close alongside.

5. 19 August 1812 · 18:05

   Less than pistol shot

   For an hour Guerriere fires broadsides and wears back and forth. Hull answers with nothing and keeps closing. Then he sets the main topgallant and runs up alongside. Every gun fires, loaded with round shot and grape. In less than fifteen minutes Guerriere’s mizzenmast goes by the board and her main yard is shot through. Hull crosses her bow and pours more broadsides into it.

   

   Capt. Hull’s reportBeing alongside, and within less than Pistol Shot, we commenced a very heavy fire from all of our Guns.
6. 19 August 1812 · About 18:30

   Without a spar standing

   Guerriere’s bowsprit fouls Constitution’s stern. Hull calls boarders. Marine Lt. William Bush is killed at their head, and Lt. Morris is shot through the body. Then Guerriere’s foremast and mainmast crash over the side, taking every spar but the bowsprit. Hull hauls off to repair rigging and comes back. Capt. James Dacres strikes his colors.

7. 20 August 1812 · 15:00

   Burned at sea

   At daylight Guerriere is a wreck, with more than six feet of planking shot out below the wales. She cannot be towed. Constitution’s boats work through the night and into the afternoon bringing the prisoners and wounded across. Then Lt. George Read sets fire to her storerooms, and she blows up. Constitution sails home to Boston and a hero’s welcome.

8. 29 December 1812 · Off Brazil

   Java

   Under Commodore William Bainbridge, Constitution meets the British frigate Java. A shot smashes her wheel and Bainbridge is wounded twice. He steers by relaying orders to the tiller room below and keeps fighting. Java is dismasted, her captain mortally wounded. She strikes at 17:25 and is burned. Afterward the Admiralty orders its frigates not to fight American frigates one on one.

9. 20 February 1815 · Off Madeira

   Two at once

   Capt. Charles Stewart catches two British warships together, Cyane and Levant, and opens fire at 18:05. When Cyane comes up astern, he backs his sails, drives Constitution backward and rakes her. Cyane strikes at 18:45. Levant comes back, is run down after a 90-minute chase, and strikes after 22:00. It is Constitution’s last battle. She has never fired a shot in combat since.