USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston.. > Part 16
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A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS.
maker. Edmund lived opposite his yard, in what was then Ship Street. He was one of the original trustees of the Mechanic Charitable Association.
Before the establishment of government dockyards, private yards were used for building national vessels, and Hartt's went for a long time by the name of " Hartt's Naval Yard." Thorn- ton's yard on the map of 1722 corresponds with Hartt's, which is now known as Constitution Wharf.
The frigates Constitution and Boston and brig Argus were all built here. All three are known to fame; but the glorious career of Old Ironsides is indelibly associated with the downfall of England's naval supremacy. The proud boast of Waller -
"Others may use the ocean as their road,
Only the English make it their abode " -
was rendered obsolete by the deeds of a navy unborn when he wrote.
In consequence of the depredations of the Algerine corsairs upon our commerce, an act was passed at the first session of the Third Congress to provide, by purchase or otherwise, four ships to carry forty-four guns and two to carry thirty-six. This act was approved by President Washington, March 27, 1794. The keel of the Constitution was accordingly laid by Mr. Hartt in November of that year, and preparations made for setting her up. Mr. Cooper, in his Naval History, says her keel was laid on Charlestown Neck, - a situation somewhat remote from her actual birthplace, - and has also incorrectly stated the date of her launch, an error into which many historians have been led by the two unsuccessful attempts made before she finally passed to her destined element.
Peace being concluded with the Dey of Algiers, work was ordered stopped on three of the new frigates, and the mate- rials sold. The act of July 1, 1797, approved by President John Adams, makes the first official mention of the Constitu- tion. The President was authorized to cause the frigates United States, Constitution, and Constellation to be manned and employed.
The names of all who contributed by their labor to the
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building of Old Ironsides deserve to be perpetuated, but the records of the Navy Department having been destroyed when Washington was captured in 1814, the loss of the mechanics' rolls has been supplied only after diligent search. She was designed by Joshua Humphries of Philadelphia, and constructed under the superintendence of Colonel George Claghorn of New Bedford. Captains Barry, Dale, and Truxton of the navy agreed with Mr. Humphries upon the dimensions of the Constitution, and Mr. Humphries prepared the drafts, moulds, and building instructions. Her masts and spars were made in the yard be- tween Comey's Wharf and the shipyard ; Paul Revere furnished the copper bolts and spikes, drawn from malleable copper by a process then new ; and Ephraim Thayer, who had a shop at the South End, made the gun-carriages for the frigate. He after- wards made those used on the gunboats built under Jefferson's administration. Isaac Harris, who worked as an apprentice in the mast-yard in 1797, put new sticks into the frigate during the war of 1812. To him is said to belong the honor of first applying in this country the important improvement of making ships' masts in sections. He constructed the first shears used at the Navy Yard at Charlestown for placing the heavy masts of war-vessels in position. A brave act is recorded of him in connection with the Old South, and we shall presently allude to him in connection with a very cele- brated flag-raising. The anchors of the Con- stitution were made in Hanover, Plymouth County, Mass.
Mr. Hartly of Boston, father of a subse- quent naval constructor, assisted Colonel Clag- CONSTITUTION'S FIG- URE-HEAD CARRIED IN THE WAR OF 1812. horn ; and Captain Nicholson, who was ap- pointed her first commander, exercised a general supervision, in which he was aided by General Jackson and Major Gibbs of Boston. Under the orders of Colonel Claghorn, Edmund Hartt was the master carpenter. The frig- ate's sails were made in the Old Granary, at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets, where now stands Park Street Church.
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A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS.
No other building in Boston was large enough. The Messrs. Skillings of Boston were the carvers of the figure-head and stern ornaments and of the cabin. She first carried at her prow a fig- ure of Hercules with uplifted club. This was shot away before Tripoli, and seems to have been exchanged at the beginning of 1812 for a Neptune, which is alluded to in the old song, -
" By the Trident of Neptune, brave Hull cried, let's steer, It points to the track of the bullying Guerriere."
She subsequently bore a plain billet-head scroll, now preserved at Charlestown Navy Yard by the thoughtful care of some un- known commander at that station. Finally, the bows of the gallant old craft were decorated with a bust of General Jackson. The Constitution first carried an English battery ; her frame was live-oak.
"Day by day the vessel grew, With timbers fashioned strong and true, Stemson and keelson and sternson knee, Till, framed with perfect symmetry, A skeleton ship rose up to view."
At length came the 20th September, 1797, the day on which Colonel Claghorn had announced that he would launch the Constitution. People poured into the town from all quarters. The day was pleasant, but cold, and the neighboring wharves were crowded with spectators, who received warning that the passage of the vessel into the water would create a swell that might endanger their safety. About six hundred people went over to Noddle's Island, where they could obtain a fine view of the expected launch. At high water, twenty minutes past eleven, the signal was given, but the ship only moved about eight feet. Her colors were then lowered, and the assembled multitude dispersed with disappointment and anxious forebod- ings.
Owing to an accident to the United States, launched at Phil- adelphia, by which she ran off the ways an hour before it was intended, damaging her keel and injuring several people, the ways of the Constitution were laid too level, to prevent a simi- lar accident. Part of the site of Hartt's yard was natural, and part artificial ; the latter sank under the immense weight. The
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vessel might have been forced off, but the constructor decided not to attempt a measure so hazardous.
On Friday, the 22d, a second effort was made to get the frigate afloat. She moved a little and then stuck fast. Grave doubts were now expressed as to the practicability of moving her, and the "ill-fated ship," as the superstitious now regarded her, remained seemingly fixed in her position.
Saturday, October 21, a third attempt was made, the high tides having afforded an opportunity of completing the ways. The day was lowering and cold, with an easterly wind. But few people assembled, the general belief being that this would, like the other attempts, prove abortive. A few dignitaries, specially invited, gathered within the narrow limits of the yard. At half past twelve P. M. all was ready.
" And at the mast-head, White, blue, and red, A flag unrolls the stripes and stars."
Commodore James Sever stood on the heel of the bowsprit, and, according to the usage of the time, baptized the ship with a bottle of choice old Madeira from the cellar of Hon. Thomas Russell, a leading Boston merchant. A few invited guests, among whom were some ladies, stood on the vessel's deck. At last, at the given signal, -
"She starts, - she moves, - she seems to feel The thrill of life along her keel ; And, spurning with her foot the ground, With one exulting, joyous bound, She leaps into the ocean's arms !"
We have extracted the following incident of the launch from the manuscript of Captain Preble's "History of the Flag" :-
" We are glad to be able to record the name of the person who first hoisted our flag over her, little imagining the glorious history she would make. When the Constitution was about ready to launch, Commodore Nicholson, who had charge and superintendence of her construction, left the shipyard to get his breakfast, leaving express orders not to hoist any flag over her until his return, intending to reserve the honor to himself. Among the workmen upon her was a shipwright and calker named Samuel Bentley, who, with the assist-
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A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS.
ance of another workman named Harris, bent on and hoisted the stars and stripes during the commodore's absence. When the com- modore returned and saw our flag, contrary to his orders, floating over her, he was very wrathy, and expressed himself in words more strong than polite to the offending workmen. Could he have fore- seen the future of the noble frigate he would have been still more excited. He had, however, the satisfaction of being the first to com- mand her, and we know she was the first of the new frigates to carry the fifteen stars and stripes under canvas upon the deep blue sea. Bentley died in Boston in 1852. The fifteen stars and stripes were worn by her before Tripoli and throughout the war of 1812."
In Emmons's Naval List the Constitution is described as a ship of 44 guns, 400 men, 1,576 tons, and cost, ready for sea, $ 302,719. She has been several times rebuilt, but the orig- inal model, tonnage, and general appearance were preserved. In 1833 the frigate was taken into the new Dry Dock at Charlestown in the presence of the Vice-President Mr. Van Buren, Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy Mr. Woodbury, and other distinguished personages. The President, General Jackson, was to have been present, but was prevented by illness. Commodore Hull had charge of her on this interesting occasion, and his clear voice was frequently heard ringing from the quarter-deck of his former glory. Loammi Baldwin, engineer of the Dry Dock, also assisted at the ceremony. The frigate was entirely dismantled and dis- masted, with all her gingerbread-work stripped off preparatory to a thorough overhauling. Her hull presented a most venera- ble appearance, the bottom being covered with mussels, many of which were gathered as relics.
Here she was rebuilt by Josiah Barker, the eminent naval constructor of the Vermont and Virginia ships-of-the-line, the frigate Cumberland, sloops-of-war Marion, Cyane, Bainbridge, and many others. Mr. Barker's first shipyard occupied the site of the present Navy Yard. There is now in this yard a mast-maker, named Harding, who has more than once masted and sparred this good ship.
The Constitution first moved under canvas July 20, 1798, proceeding to sea August 13. The roll of her commanders em-
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braces in their order Samuel Nicholson, who had been a lieu- tenant with Paul Jones in his action with the Serapis ; Edward Preble, styled " the father of our navy," who had served in the old Protector and Winthrop, and who in 1804 gallantly laid Old Ironsides under the walls of Tripoli ; Isaac Hull, fourth lieutenant of the old bark in her first cruise, executive officer in 1800, and finally in 1812, as commander, the victor in the famous action with the Guerriere ; William Bainbridge, a tried officer of the old navy, captured in the Philadelphia at Tripoli in 1803, and subsequently conqueror in December, 1812, of the Java, British frigate ; Charles Stewart, who closed the war so gloriously for his flag by the capture of two British frigates, the Cyane and Levant. This action was fought on a beautiful moonlight evening off Madeira after peace was concluded, but by the terms of the treaty the capture was legalized.
Besides these names, so illustrious in the pages of naval war- fare, the Constitution was commanded a short time in 1804 by the brave but ill-fated Decatur ; by John Rodgers ; by Jacob Jones ; by T. Macdonough, J. D. Elliott, and others, whose deeds have passed into history. The brave Lawrence, gallant David Porter, Charles Ludlow, and Charles Morris have served in her as first-lieutenants, while Isaac Chauncey was a master commandant, and Shubrick a lieutenant. The latter officer, now rear-admiral and blind, is the only survivor among the officers of the battle with the Cyane and Levant, in which he was engaged.
The first crew of the Constitution were, with few exceptions, natives of Massachusetts. Her career and exploits are as fa- miliar as household words. No ship was ever so loved by a nation, not even the famous old Victory of Nelson. Good luck pursued her without the intervention of the horse-shoe which Nelson carried nailed to his mast-head.
· "Aye, put her atop on the log-book of fame, Her voice always roared from the van,
When she bore down in thunder and darkness and flame, Crash foundering each foe that before her came,
The old sailors' love flashes up at her name, For her yards Young Americans man."
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A VISIT TO THE OLD SHIPYARDS.
The first cruise of Old Ironsides under Nicholson and the second under Talbot are void of any interesting features, and it was not until Preble commanded her in the Mediterranean, in 1803, that she fired a broadside at an enemy.
Cooper says that Preble was appointed to the Constitution as first lieutenant under Commodore Nicholson, but got relieved, his relations with his commander not being cordial. Preble hoisted his flag on board the Constitution, May 21, 1803. The ship, having been lying in ordinary for ten months, was unfit for immediate service, and the commodore caused a thorough over- hauling of the vessel to be made, personally scrutinizing every rope and timber in her. Under his orders she achieved her early reputation, and was, when he turned her over to Decatur, a ship to be proud of. After lying some time in President's Roads taking in powder, etc., the Constitution weighed anchor and sailed on her famous cruise to the Mediterranean, Sunday, August 14, 1803.
Her escape from the British squadron in July, 1812, was due to Yankee ingenuity. The method by which this was accom- plished is, it is believed, understood by few. The Constitution carried two umbrellas, so called, made of stout spars attached to a central one precisely like an umbrella frame. These were covered with canvas, and were capable of being expanded or closed ; the weight of the iron-work caused them to sink. While the becalmed British vessels were towing with their boats, Hull caused his umbrellas to be carried out ahead and warped his vessel up to them, so contriving, that while one was being hauled in the other was being put in position. In this way, he left his pursuers astern before they discovered the means employed to escape them. These umbrellas are now in the Charlestown Navy Yard, where, it is hoped, they may be preserved with care. The Constitution ran into Marblehead on Sunday.
While Dr. Bentley, pastor of the Second Church at Salem, was in the midst of his sermon, some one called out under the window of the church, "The British fleet is chasing the Con- stitution into Marblehead." The minister instantly dismissed
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his congregation, seized his hat, and ran out of the church, fol- lowing the men and cannon towards the scene of action. Being a short, thick-set man, and the mercury at eighty-five, the good doctor soon gave out, when he was lifted astride one of the cannon, and in this way proceeded to the beach. Dr. Bentley was a Boston boy, graduate and tutor at Harvard, and for a long time an editor of the Salem Gazette and Salem Register.
The following anecdotes of Hull are printed in Miss Quincy's Memoir : -
"Toward evening on the 29th of August, 1812, a frigate (recog- nized as the Constitution) came in under full sail and dropped her anchor beside Rainsford Island, - then the quarantine ground. The next morning a fleet of armed ships appeared off Point Alderton. As they rapidly approached, the Constitution was observed to raise her anchor and sails and go boldly forth to meet the apparent enemy ; but as the frigate passed the leader of the fleet, a friendly recognition was exchanged instead of the expected broadside. They joined company, and the Constitution led the way to Boston. It was the squadron of Commodore Rodgers returning unexpectedly from a long cruise.
" A few days afterwards, Hull, who had just taken the Guerriere, came with Decatur to breakfast at Quincy. When this incident was mentioned, Hull said, 'I must acknowledge I participated in the apprehensions of my friends on shore. Thinking myself safe in port, I told my officers to let the men wash their clothes, and get the ship in order to go up to Boston ; and being excessively fatigued, went to my stateroom. I was sound asleep when a lieutenant rushed down, exclaiming, 'Captain, the British are upon us ! - an armed fleet is entering the harbor !' No agreeable intelligence, certainly ; for I was wholly unprepared to engage with a superior force. But determined to sell our lives as dear as I could, I gave orders to clear the decks, weigh anchor, and get ready for immediate action. I con- fess I was greatly relieved when I saw the American flag and recog- nized Rodgers.' In speaking of the conflict with the Guerriere, he said, 'I do not mind the day of battle ; the excitement carries one through : but the day after is fearful ; it is so dreadful to see my men wounded and suffering.'
" These naval officers formed a striking contrast. Hull was easy and prepossessing in his manners, but looked accustomed to face 'the battle and the breeze.' Decatur was uncommonly handsome,
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and remarkable for the delicacy and refinement of his appear- ance."
Hull, who had a good deal of the bluff sailor about him, exclaimed when he saw the mast of the Guerriere go by the board, - " Huzzah, my boys, we 've made a brig of her." A shipmaster, prisoner on board the Guerriere, gives an interest- ing relation of his experience during the action. While the Constitution was manœuvring for position, Captain Dacres asked his prisoner, "Do you think she will strike without firing ?"
Obtaining permission to retire into the cockpit, the captain says : -
" Within one moment after my foot left the ladder the Constitu- tion gave that double-shotted broadside which threw all in the cock- pit over in a heap on the opposite side of the ship. For a moment it seemed as if heaven and earth had struck together ; a more terrific shock cannot be imagined."
After the firing had ceased, the prisoner returned to the deck, and continues : -
" What a scene was presented, and how changed in so short a time, during which the Guerriere had been totally dismasted and otherwise cut to pieces, so as not to make her worth towing into port. On the- other hand, the Constitution looked perfectly fresh, and even those on board the Guerriere did not know what ship had fought them. Captain Dacres stood with his officers surveying the scene, - all in the most perfect astonishment."
" At this moment a boat was seen putting off from the hostile ship. As soon as within speaking distance, a young gentleman (Midship- man, late Commodore Reed) hailed and said, 'Commodore Hull's compliments, and wishes to know if you have struck your flag ?' At this Captain Dacres appeared amazed, but recovering himself and looking up and down, he deliberately said, -'Well, I don't know ; - our mainmast is gone, our mizzenmast is gone, and upon the whole you may say we have struck our flag.'"
The little hurt received by the Constitution in this engage- ment - her hull showing only here and there a scar - gave her the name of Old Ironsides, by which she was familiarly known. Her crew, indeed, affirmed that the Guerriere's shot fell harm- less from her " iron sides."
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Old Ironsides arrived in Boston on a Sunday, about noon, from this cruise. The ship was soon surrounded by boats eager to learn the news, which was communicated to the first that came alongside. Instantly the word was passed to the other boats, "The Constitution has captured the Guerriere !" The men cheered, swung their hats, and spread the joyful tidings to the shore, where thousands gathered on the wharves took up the refrain until it echoed from one extremity of the town to the other.
" On Brazil's coast she ruled the roast When Bainbridge was her captain ; Neat hammocks gave, made of the wave, Dead Britons to be wrapped in."
Bainbridge, who succeeded Hull in the command of the Con- stitution, next fought a well-contested action with the Java on the coast of Brazil, December 29, bringing his own ship victo- riously out of the fight. The Java, indeed, only struck her flag after the loss of every mast and spar, bowsprit included. Her gallant commander, Lambert, was mortally wounded. The disabled condition of his prize, with the great distance from our own shores, compelled Bainbridge to destroy the Java, as Hull had destroyed the Guerriere. When the officers of the Java left the Constitution at St. Salvador, they expressed the warm- est gratitude for the humane and generous treatment they had experienced.
Bainbridge returned to Boston from this cruise, arriving on the 15th of February. He was received on landing by a salute of artillery, and a procession was formed at Faneuil Hall headed by the " Boston Light Infantry " and " Winslow Blues," which escorted the commodore to the Exchange Coffee House, where the company sat down to a superb banquet. Hull and Rodgers walked with Bainbridge in the procession, and shared the ap- plause bestowed upon him. At the dinner Governor Gore pre- sided, assisted by H. G. Otis, Israel Thorndike, T. L. Winthrop, William Sullivan, and others. The Legislature being in session passed complimentary resolutions.
The commodore, with some of his officers, visited the Federal
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Street Theatre, where they were immediately recognized by the audience, which rose up as if by one impulse, while cheer upon cheer shook the house from pit to dome. The veteran Cooper, who on that night was playing Macbeth, flung his bonnet in the air and joined in the applause.
In June, 1813, Stewart was appointed to command her, and proceeded to sea December 30, although Boston was then block- aded by seven of the enemy's ships. She returned in April, 1814, and was chased into Marblehead by the frigates Tene- dos and Junon. The country was alarmed, and the local militia from Newburyport to Boston marched to defend the frigate ; one Boston company, the New England Guards, pro- ceeded as far as Charlestown, when they learned that the pursuit had been abandoned. They then found that their cartridge- boxes were empty.
In December, 1814, Stewart sailed on his second cruise and encountered, February 28, off Madeira, the British frigates Cyane and Levant, which were both captured after a contest in which the Constitution was handled with consummate skill by her commander. Of the prizes, only the Cyane succeeded in reaching the United States, the Levant being recaptured by Sir George Collier's squadron, which suddenly appeared off Port Praya, where Old Ironsides was quietly lying with her captives. All three vessels were compelled to cut their cables and run for it. The Cyane arriving first at New York, great anxiety was felt for the Constitution, and on her arrival at that port on the 15th of May, 1815, the ship and commander were greeted with the utmost enthusiasm.
On the 4th of July, 1828, Old Ironsides returned from a long cruise in the Mediterranean to the place of her nativity. As she passed up to the Navy Yard, the roar of her guns mingled with the echoes from the Castle and from Constitution Wharf, the place of her birth. The guns were firing peaceful salutes instead of round shot and grape, but the presence of the idolized frigate gave additional éclat to the national holiday.
It was at one time decided to break her up, and orders had actually been issued to this effect. The destruction of her old
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timbers seemed like an act of sacrilege, and gave rise to Holmes's much admired lines expressive of the universal feeling of con- demnation. To the poet's impassioned outburst is due the preservation of the Constitution on the roll of the American Navy :- "O, better that her shattered hull Should sink beneath the wave ; Her thunders shook the mighty deep, And there should be her grave. Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storms, The lightning, and the gale."
From the old timbers were made a number of relics which have no doubt been highly prized by their possessors. Mr. Barker, the constructor, sent a cane to Joshua Humphries, her original designer. In 1836 a beautiful coach was built entirely of the wood of the old frigate at Amherst, Mass., intended as
THE CONSTITUTION HAULED UP ON THE WAYS.
a New-Year's present to General Jackson from several gentlemen of New York City. Commodore Hull presented canes from the original wood to President Jackson, Mr. Van Buren, and Mr. Poinsett at the time the ship was docked.
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