By rhe end of the first calend ar yea r of rhe war, the A merican effort h ad produced, according to a newspaper of the times, nothing bur "disaster, defeat, disgrace, and ruin a nd death." Three attempts to invade Ca nada had nor on ly failed, bur had fa iled monumenta lly, and the Northwest was mostly in the hand s of the enemy. The misma nage ment by the War D epart ment, inept senior officers, the inability of the country to raise a national a rmy, a nd a lack of understanding from the populace had co ntributed to the fai lure of the army. Small wonder, then, that the citi zens of rhe Atla ntic stares from M assachu setts to V irginia bega n to wonder if perhaps the United Stares mi ght have bitten off more th a n it co uld chew! The wa r at sea, however, was a different story. While at the outset, America had some seventeen warships in its Navy, six of th ese were new or nearly new fri gates, rh ree designed by Joshua Humphreys. So me six weeks fo llowing the decl a ration of wa r, USS Constitution had m ade a highly successfu l cruise up the Atlantic seaboa rd, evadin g a superior fleer of British sh ips off the New Jersey coast. She arrived in Boston and, fo llowing some repairs a nd the restocking of her supplies, se t sa il again in August with orders to protect returning mercha nt ships. The fri ga te was rared to carry forty-fo ur guns, bur when she put to sea in August of 1812 , she ca rried thirty 24-pounder long guns, one 18-pounder long gun and twenty-four 32-pound er ca rronad es. If yo u're quick at figures, yo u probably rea li zed just now that the complement of guns the ship carried was greater than her rating, both true and common. The rating
spoke to design, bur in wa rtime the navy felt it prudent to mount as ma ny guns as a sh ip could sa fely ca rry. She was in the class of ships called " heavy fri gates," a designatio n arising from both her constructio n and her armament. Constitution was one of the first six fri gates ordered by President Geo rge Washington in 1794. Three of them were des ignated " heavy fri gates" and her sister ships includ ed USS President and USS United States. They we re each 175 feet long {w ithout their rakish bowsprits), displaced 1,576 tons, a nd ca rried a crew of 450-480 sa ilors, ma rines, a nd officers. Each had three masts and a veritable cloud of canvas aloft. John Rod ge rs, in USS President and commandin g of one of the two squadrons, had already sai led in sea rch of a reporred ly rich convoy of Briti sh merchant ships en route from Jam a ica. His efforts, while unsuccess fu I, had rhe benefit of distracting the Roya l Navy while they looked for him, resulting in few pri zes for the British fleer. Constitution, under the command of Isaac Hu ll {nephew of the disgraced genera l of Detroit fame), found a British frigate some 75 0 mi les at sea and immediately closed to engage. HMS Guerriere, comm anded by James D acres, held the enviable reputation of bein g one of "England 's stoutest fri gates." One wo uld think that Capta in D ac res mi g ht have rethoug ht that sobriquet after receiving Constitution's opening sa lvo of a double-shotted broadside, sending some 700 pounds of iron into the British ship all at once. Of course, Constitution's guns, being of heav ier caliber than those of the Royal Navy ship- the British felt th at 18-pounders were suf-
Commodore Isaac H ull fi cient- had not on ly a longer reach bur threw a noticeably heavier ba ll. As Guerriere closed , th e British returned fire, bur it was already too late; her mas ts we re teetering and her hull severely holed . Many of the British sailors were killed or disabled, and when the m as ts fell, D ac res had little choice bur surrender. Hu ll rook off the Briti sh sai lors a nd officers, provided med ica l treatment to the wounded, and set fire to the pride of the Roya l Navy. There was nothing left to sa lvage or rake as a prize. Ir was, of course, durin g this memorable naval engagement that Constitution ea rned her sobriq uer, "Old!ronsides," when a sa ilor observed British roundshor bouncing off her sides and exclaimed, "H uzza! Her sides are m ade of iron! " When rhe fri gate sailed into Boston H arbor some weeks later, the town speople, des perate for som e good news, went wi ld, feting Captain Hu ll a nd his crew as heroes with parades, pa rries, and wild revelry. Ir was high rime, they claimed, th at the United
side to starboard; D ropping As tern depicts the collapse ofthe British ship '.r fore and main masts; and in Sh e Fell in the Sea a Perfect W reck a great boost to the morale ofthe nation.
SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 2011
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