The only known photograph of th e Constituti on under sail on active duty, taken in 1880 by a Private Hendrickeson, Ballery A, 3rd Regiment , New York Artillery. The Constitution was en route from Philadelphia to Newport. (Courtesy Naval Historical Society.)
At right , the Constitution 's towering rig and powerful lines are readily seen in this portrait of the ship at the Boston Navy Yard in 193 1. (Courtesy Naval Historical Society.)
undertake an active blockade of Tripoli ; but from July to September a number of attacks were carried out from the sea. When reinforcements arri ved in that month , Preble , who was one of the most junior commodores in the American Navy , had to hand over command of the squadron and , though it was not the Navy's intent, he returned home. Whatever Preble thought of his replacement-" This supercedure lacerates my heart," he confided- there can be no doubt as to the admiration his crew had for Preble. In a modest ceremony aboard the Constitution , Decatur (by now a captain) presented Preble with a written testimonial from hi s subordinate officers: We, the undersigned officers of the squadron late under your command , cannot, in justice, suffer you to depart without g iving you some small testimon y of the very high estimation in which we hold yo u as an officer and commander. Although the Tripolitan war wore on through the next summer before coming to a close (and then with a minimum of glory for the Navy) , it was Preble and his men who had , as Pope Pius VII wrote to President Jefferson, " in forty days . . . done more for the cause of Christianity than the most powerful nations in ages. " But the Barbary Pirates were, in the scheme of things, small beer.
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During the Barbary War , the number of commissioned officers serving under Preble comprised no more than one-seventh the total number of officers in the United States Navy. In the War of 1812 , Preble's Boys accounted for one-third of the officers who held commands. It is also worth noting that with the exception of Oliver Hazard Perry's actions on Lake Erie , every naval battle won by the Americans was fo ught by one of Preble's Boys. With a fl eet of more than a thousand ships, hundreds of SEA HISTORY , SUMMER 1987
which were of equal or heav ier rating than the largest American ships, Great Britain was uncontested ruler of the seas. But not all these ships were mustered against their former colonists, and the Americans struck out in vali ant , and often successful , defiance of Briti sh sea power. The first of the great naval engagements of the War of 18 12 was the Constitution's celebrated duel with Guerriere on 19 August 18 12. The course of the battle, in which Captai n Isaac Hull 's men reduced the Guerriere to a floating hulk in half an hour, has been examined countless times. Although in numbers of men and guns Constitution had a telling advantage over the enemy , under Hull , this adva ntage became crushing. The vessels were both classed as frigates , the Constitution be ing rated at 44 guns, the Guerriere at 38. But, as John Spears explains in his History of Our Navy, although the' ' comparative force of the ships . . . was as I 00 to 70 , the comparative casualties were as 18 to I 00 . To this may be added that the relative injury to the ships was 100 to nothing." So complete was the devastation, in fact , that in surrendering, Captai n James Dacres could not order the flag struck-they had all gone over the side with Guerriere's masts. Hull ' s leadership had been sharply tested only weeks before the battle with Guerriere. At the outbreak of the war , he had the Constitution at Annapolis . Sailing for New York to join the squadron of Commodore John Rodgers, he wrote of his crew, " In a few days , ... unacq ua inted as we now are , we should , I hope , give a good account of any frigate the enemy have . " The first encounter was dramatic enough , though it would be better called a disengagement rather than an engagement. In light airs off the Jersey shore, a day's sail from New York, Constitution's lookout sighted sails. Thinking it Rodgers' squadron, Hull made fo r the vessels. The following morning dawned on the Constitution and a Briti sh fleet consisting 15