on what I know of the figures by Rush and Skillen. The figure scales around nine feet on the diagonal, from the extended right leg to the top of the head. With the right arm extended forward and up, the basic oppos ition movement requires the left leg to be strid ing forward. The carving in the Corne painting is painted all white, in accorda nce with the trend in American sculpture during this period and with all the surviving figures by Rush and Skillen. I placed the bound fasces on the port side, with the left hand of the figure on top. The right hand holds a scroll for the Constitution, carved from two separate pieces of boxwood and inserted in to his hand. I carved a lion skin draped over his shoulders, and a separate "baton," or club, was placed on the base. This proud figure was featured on the ship until the collision with the frigate President in 1804 when it was smashed to pieces and discarded.
Scroll of the War of 1812 The billet that was carved at the bow when the ship was being repaired in 1804 in the Mediterranean was evidently not the one
she had during the War of 181 2, however. In his book, Shipcarvers ofNorth America, historian M. V. Brewington described a different billet, or scroll, as being carved for the bow during an 1808 refit by Daniel N. Train. Pictorial documentation of this work was thought not to exist until the USS Constitution Museum discovered a stereo photo of a different scroll, shown on a column at the Boston Navy Yard. They also h ave a copy of what looks like a woodcut of this scroll from the side, with two sailor lads lounging beneath. The placement of
the sailors is very convenient, as we can more or less scale off the size of this large carving by estimating the height of the two figures. This scroll was evidently on the ship for some time. Andrew Jackson Figures Thenextmajorchangecamein 1833, when Jesse Elliot, then commander of the Boston Navy Yard, had a figure ofAndrew Jackson 1his second Andrew Jackson figure is on display at the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland.
This Michele Felice Corne painting of Constitution from 1803 is the only known contemporary depiction of the ship with the Hercules figure at the bow.
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SEA HISTORY 139, SUMMER 20 12