USS CONSTITUTION:
Living to Fight Another Day
The big frigate's boats run out an anchor to pull the ship to safety, in a memorable act ofseamanship. Painting by Julian 0 . Davidson, courtesy USS Constitution Museum.
She was a supership. She had to be, to survive and win in an ocean controlled by the omnipotent, universally victorious ships of the Royal Navy. The "24s" that Fletcher Pratt mentions in this story of her escape from a British squadron off the Jersey coast in July 1812 are ship-killing guns throwing a 24-pound shot. This was battleship armament. No British frigate carried long guns heavier than 18-pounders. Fletcher Pratt 's story, from his book The Navy: A History (New York, 1941) brings out in bold relief another critically important strength of this history-making cruiser: her people. Caught in a desperate situation, Captain Isaac Hull simply refused to admit he was caught; with superb seamanship he used every wile in the book and a few for which he wrote the book, to get away free, and his men responded with ultimate vigor and elan. This H'as part ofConstitution'ssecret, part of the traditions that Hull, and Preble before him consciously laid down for the fledgling American Navy. It was well she got away. Just a month later, Hull, having evaded the orders that would have kept him in port, met Dacres in the British Guerriere, and won the first of those smashing single-ship victories of the war that gave everyone, Americans included, a new appreciation of what their ship designers, captains and sailors could achieve at sea. PS
On the morning of the 18th, off the Jersey coast, he spied four big ships off north; at six, a fifth, nearer. Thinking they might be Rodgers' fleet, Hull set signals; but they were not answered, and in an hour he had the truth-it was Broke's squadron, four frigates and a ship of the line, just out of gunshot and bearing down with everything that would draw. The wind was light and various; Hull cleared for action and turned east with all sail set, while the gunners moved two 24s to bear out the cabin windows. Toward evening the wind died altogether; Constitution hoisted out boats and began to tow, but so did the British astern, and their leaders began to gain, as they put the boats of two ships to pull one. Few were the men who could match Isaac Hull in any trick of seamanship. He sounded; got twenty-six fathoms, or enough to reach bottom with an anchor, and had all the spare cable in the ship gotten up. To the end of one line he attached a light anchor, a kedge, loaded it into the frigate's cutter and had it carried out ahead to the full length of the line and dropped into the water. At the signal Constitution's crew gave a heave-ho on the capstan and literally walked the ship forward to the anchor. Meanwhile another line and another kedge were being carried out; the cable was capstanned in on the run, and away went Constitution in these long strides, gaining a good half-mile before the British became aware of what she was doing and imitated her. By this time they had learned the American was too downy a bird to be caught with ordinary methods; Commodore Broke had the boats of the whole squadron put on his ship, Shannon, nearest of the pursuit, and pulled amain. They gained the half-mile back and more; were closing in, when at nine in the morning a light air from the southward struck the ships. Constitution went tearing through the water, picking up her boats on the run with marvelous seamanship, where an inch of miscalculation would have lost them and the crews too. The British could not match this; they
had to stop for their boats, and Constitution recovered her advantage. Yet the air died away into baffling cat's paws; it was out boats and kedge again, all through that day, with the enemy on either beam and astern, not quite able to close, firing occasionally, always short. The British oarsmen relieved each other, but Constitution's weary people had no relief till eleven in the night, when another series of little gusts carried the ship ahead briefly, once more running in her boats as she passed them. Two in the morning brought more calm; by a kind of mutual agreement neither British nor Americans towed for a while, but toward morning the halfdead men were routed out and sent to the oars once more. Constitution gained hand over fist now; the British were wearing down, could not stand the racket as well as Hull's men, and he gained on them too, by cleverertrimming of his sails to every puff. By the third morning he was a good two miles ahead of Belvidera, which held him nearest in chase. Toward noon a pleasant little breeze sprang up; all the ships profited without changing relative positions much; but in the afternoon the eastern sky began to lower, and rain could be seen dancing on the water far ahead. Constitution was nearest to the squall; Hull sent up his topmen and had everything pulled down to close reefs as though it were a regular hurricane aproaching, and just as he expected, the British, away behind, began to reef down tight as well. But he was a better weatherman than they; had seen the squall was thin, and as soon as it hit, concealing his frigate for a minute behind sheets of rain, he shook out the reefs, set his light sails and went booming through the water at a staggering twelve-knot pace. Away behind the curtain of rain the squall wrenched the British ships a moment and passed; before they could set full sail again Consititution had them all hull down on the horizon and was traveling faster than their fastest.
SEA HISTORY, SUMMER 1982
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