David StodderShipbuilder and Patriot in Post-Revolutionary Baltimore by Ronald Pilling and building superintendent, Commodore who ass umed Knox's cabinet position in 1795. TI1omas Truxtun, visited the yard and wrote Nevertheless, on 7 September 1797 Constelto Secretary of War Henry Knox that Stod- lation "moved gracefully and majestically der's "Artificers, Labourers [are] scarce and down her ways, amidst the silent amazement indolent" and that he believed the ship should of thousands of spectators, to her destined be built in his hometown of Philadelphia, the element, into which she plunged with such construction was mired in sometimes bitter ease and safety, as to make the hills resound political wrangling. A Burry of accusatory let- with repeated bursts of joyful acclamations." ters accompanied every phase of the frigate's Constellation's launch was both rhe pinrise from the lumber pile to the launching ways. nacle of an at-rimes rempesruous career and That she was completed ar all is testimony to one of rhe city's finest hours. Yet the story of rhe negotiating skills of Timothy Pickering, David Stodder has almost been lost to history, obscured by the controversy rhar swirls aro und rhe 1854 sloop-of-war of the same name thar graces today's Baltimore waterfront. Even contemporary sources confused the identity of Constellation's builder. Stodder leased his shipyard to James and Joseph Sterett, who were the War Department's agents for the building of the frigate and managed the paperwork. Newspapers of the day sometimes reported that the ship was being built in the Sterett ya rd, adding to rhe confusion. Of Stodder, even the dean of American maritime historians, Howard I. Chapelle, once wrote that "little is known." In his classic tome, The History ofthe American Sailing Navy, plenty of pages are devoted to the frigate Constellation bur only a single sentence mentions irs builder. It is as ifhe o nly built one ship in Baltimore. In fact, Stodder builr many vessels at his rwo shipyards, one in Fell's Point and The only surviving document from Joshua Humphreys's design for USS Constellation is the plan the other in what is now Canton. He cam e of her hull Lines. Commodore Thomas Truxtun accused Stodder ofhaving altered the Lines dur- to Baltimore toward the end of the Revo luing construction, which would have been in clear violation ofhis orders. The ship's tenderness in tion, having learned his trade in Hingham, strong winds, according to Truxtun, was the fault ofthe builder. Records from Later re buildings Massachusetts, where his family had settled reveal that Stodder did in fact follow the design as outlined in the ship's plans. That the frigate in 1638. The bustling waterfront of Philpot Srreer, where Stodder and his wife Marcia lived, heeled excessively on the wind was more Likely the result of Truxtun's ambitious sail plan. wo uld have been a welco me sight, for had he tons in the late eighteenth century was risky looked over his shoulder as he left his previous and potentially dangerous. Constellation was home in Porrsmourh, Virginia, he wo uld have among the first ships of rhe new United seen only desolation. Stodder had worked in States Navy, and Stodder did not want to be Virginia building fri gates for the Co ntinental remembered as the shipwright who capsized Congress from 1777 until late 1779, when the her, damaged her keel, left her stuck in the Gosport Navy Yard was burned by rhe British mud, or crippled some of the bystanders in and Stodder's unlaunched frigates went up in the process. flames. That Stodder solicited the assistance of Humphreys at all was a rare concession for a (left) Commodore Thomas Truxtun was apm an who was co nvinced that his talents far pointed master and building superintendent exceeded those of the Pennsylvania Quaker of USS Constellation. Despite a difficult reshipbuilder. It is likely that Stodder was maklationship between Stodder and Truxton, on 7 ing every effort to prevent further difficulties, September 1797, USS Constellation slipped given the project's troubled history. From the down the ways on Harris Creek without incident. (Painting by Bass Otis, 1817) first day that Constellation's chosen master ithin days of the scheduled launch of the frigate Constellation, master shipb uilder David Stodder and designer Joshua Humphreys surveyed the launching ways on H arris C reek, rwo miles east of Baltimore. The rwo men discussed water depths at various tides, carefully measured the slope of the heavy beams that led to the creek, and checked the inventory of tallow that Stodder would use to grease the ship's descent. Launching a ship of 1,278
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SEA HISTORY 128, AUTUMN 2009