USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 46
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The next day the ship was raised two inches by means of wedges; her bilge-ways were then taken out, and apparent defects remedied. Every- thing being in order, another attempt was made on the 22d, when she moved about thirty-one fect, and then stopped, as though still reluctant to enter her destined clement. On examination it was found that the ways erected on the new wharf (which had only been built for her to pass over, and not to rest upon) had settled one and five-eighths of an inch, which the incline of the ways was insufficient to overcome. The vessel might have been forced off, but the constructor decided not to attempt so hazardous a measure. Colonel Claghorne says in his report :
" I had formed the inclined plane upon the smallest angle that I conceived would convey the ship into the water, in order that she might make her plunge with the least violence, and thereby prevent any strain or injury. I must now give the ways more descent, which will remedy the defect occasioned by the settling of the new wharf ;
was large enough. The duck for the sails was
their factory on the corner of Tremont and Boyl- made by an incorporated company in Boston, in ston streets.
334
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
and I am fully confident that the next trial, at high tide, in October, will be attended with success. In the mean time I shall proceed in completing the ship on the stocks."
Saturday, Oct. 21, 1797,-which was noted as the anniversary of Col- umbus's discovery of America,-a third attempt to launch the ship was made, and proved successful. The day was overcast and cold, with an casterly wind, so but few people assembled.1 A few specially-invited dig- nitaries gathered within the narrow limits of the yard; a smaller number, with some ladies, were on her deck. At half-past twelve, all being ready, the commodore stood at the heel of the bowsprit with a bottle of choice Madeira, from the cellar of the Hon. Thomas Russell; at a given signal, the ship slid along the ways and glided into and rested gracefully upon the water, amid a chorus of cheers. As she did so, the commodore broke the bottle over her bow, according to time-honored usage, and baptized her as the good ship "Constitution." She cost, when ready for sea, $302,718.84. She first moved under canvas July 20, 1798, and proceeded to sea on her first cruise, under the command of Commodore Samuel Nicholson, August 13 of the same year.2
The frigate "Boston " (the second of that name), of seven hundred tons, was the next ship of war built in Hart's yard. Her rate was to have been a thirty-six, but she only mounted twenty-eight guns. She was de- signed by Mr. Hart, and built under his superintendence.
The annoyance to which the commerce of our country had been sub- jected by British and French ships of war, - the former claiming the right of search for British subjects, and the latter capturing our vessels under the pretence that they were carrying contraband goods, - aroused the indigna- tion of the people. To aid in measures of defence, the ladies of Charleston, S. C., built the " John Adams," and tendered her to the Government; the inhabitants of Newburyport and its neighborhood built and presented the " Merrimac; " and the merchants of Salem built and presented the frigate " Essex," the first ship of war of the United States to double both the Capes of Good Hope and Horn. The merchants of Boston, not to be outdone in patriotism, built the frigate " Boston." There were one hundred and four subscribers, whose subscriptions varied from $500 to $10,000. The amount subscribed was $136,500, and the cost of the frigate reached $137,900.3
1 Among the 'shivering boys who witnessed the launch was the late George Ticknor; who told me that, though cautioned beforehand, he was nearly swept from off the wharf on which he stood by the wave raised by the vessel as she made her plunge into the water.
* The history of the "Constitution " has been several times written; once by Cooper, in Put- nam's Magazine, June, 1853, i. 477, 593 ; again hy J. E. Dow, who was Commodore Elliot's secretary when she was his flag-ship in the Mediterranean. This last was printed in the Democratic Review.
8 The Columbian Centinel of June 27, 1798,
contains the following notice of the first step in the project : -
" Notice. - A subscription will be opened this day for the raising of a fund to purchase or build one or more ships of war, to be loaned to this Government for the service of the United States. Those who would wish to join in this testimonial of public spirit are requested to meet in the chamber over Taylor's Insurance Office, at 1 o'clock precisely, to affix their signa- tures and make the necessary arrangements."
The next issue of the paper, June 30, 1798, has the following announcement : -
335
THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.
In April, 1799, President Adams appointed Captain George Little to be her commander; and the work having been carried on with great rapidity, the " Boston" was launched, in the presence of President Adams, May 20.1
Captain Little gave notice July 9, in the newspapers, that " having re- ceived sailing orders for the United States frigate 'Boston,' all officers and men belonging to her are ordered to repair on board immediately." July 25, the frigate sailed on a cruise, and the Centinel declared her " one of the handsomest-modelled ships in the world." Her subsequent captures of " Le Berceatt" and several French privateers are a part of our naval annals. In 1812 the "Boston" was reported unworthy of repair; and in 1814, when the British were advancing on Washington, she was burned, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy.
The first legislation looking to the establishment of a government dock- yard is found in a resolve reported from the Naval Committee of the House of Representatives, Jan. 25, 1797, recommending an appropriation for that purpose. The following spring a Navy Department was established; and April 25, 1800, we find the Hon. Benjamin Stoddard, Secretary of the Navy, writing to the President: " At Boston, the old yard, besides being private
" THE NERVE - In compliance with the ad- vertisement in the last Centinel, a number of citizens of this metropolis met at Taylor's In- surance Office, for the purpose of opening a patriotic and voluntary subscription in aid of Government. Last evening the amount sub- scribed amounted to $115,250; and as the sub- scription still remains open, we have not the least doubt that Boston will outdo every city in the Union in Federal patriotism. We will not omit mentioning that the Ilon. William Phillips added $10,000 to this free-will offering. God bless him for it !"
[Among the subscribers are the following : William Phillips, $10,000; David Sears, Stephen Higginson, Eben Parsons, John Codman, Joseph Coolidge & Son, Theodore Lyman, Boot and Pratt, Thomas Dickinson, $3,000 each; Samucl Parkman and Samuel Eliot, $4,000 each; Ben- jamin Joy, James and T. II. Perkins, Thomas Walley, John Parker, Stephen lligginson, Jr., Abiel Smith, Thomas C. Amory, $1,500 cach ; St. Andrew's Lodge, $1,000; Benjamin and Na- thaniel Goddard, and Josiah Quincy, $500. - ED.]
Less than two months later, Aug. 22, 1798, the papers say : "The kcel of a thirty-six gun frigate is now laying at Mr. Hart's navy yard."
t. The Columbian Centinel of Wednesday, May 22, contains the following notice of the launch : -
" More Wooden Walls .- On Monday last, at noon, the frigate 'Boston,' of 32 guns, was launched from the Navy (Ilart's) Vard, in this town, in the presence of THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, IIIS TIONOR THE LIEU-
TENANT-GOVERNOR of Massachusetts, and an immense concourse of spectators.
" Her entrance into the bottom of the elements, the rights of which she is destined to ascertain and defend, was announced by a Federal dis- charge from Captain Gardner's artillery, by sa- lutes from the shipping in the harbor, and by the loud and reiterated huzzas of the citizens. The launch was effected without the least acci- dent or interruption, and complete harmony operated every movement. A more excellent piece of naval architecture cannot be produced in the United States. The dispatch used in her construction, the neatness of her workmanship, with the superior quality and durability of her materials, do honor to Captain Hart, the master- builder, to Captain Little, her commander, the superintending committee of subscribers, and to the mechanics of the town. She is about Soo tons, and has the figure of an aboriginal war- rior for her head. The President of the United States was escorted to and from the Navy Yard by a committee of subscribers and a procession of civil and military officers, and was welcomed and addressed by the acclamations of all ranks of citizens, a full brass band of music in uni- form, and discharges from Captain Gardner's artillery."
"The rigging and equipment of the Boston frigate," says the Centinel of May 29, "are pro- gressing with patriotic celerity." June 9, the same paper says : "The Boston frigate is almost completed; she bids fair to do honor to her namesake." June 12: "The Boston frigate yes- terday hauled off into the stream. The enlist- ment of her crew progresses rapidly."
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
property, and too confined to contain the timber of a 74-gun ship, is so much surrounded by wooden houses as to be thought too dangerous a situ- ation for building a valuable ship, especially a ship that might remain long upon the stocks. At this place, or rather at Charlestown, there is a very proper situation for a building-yard; but the ground cannot be obtained for less than eighteen thousand dollars." The secretary recommended the purchase of land for a government dockyard at Boston, “ notwithstand- ing the high price which must be paid for the grounds." Mr. Hum- phreys, the naval constructor, who was sent to the castward to view the situations about Boston and Portsmouth, extended his examination of har- bors as far as Portland and Wiscasset, and reported that "he could find nowhere within a convenient distance of Boston a situation so eligible in all respects as Charlestown." Boston, he thought, " from the natural strength of its situation, the great number of ship-carpenters in its vicinity, and of its seamen, must always remain a building-place, and a place of rendezvous for our navy of the first importance; while the rise of tide, eleven feet, would greatly lessen the expense of emptying a dock," etc. He adds: "The outer harbor of President and Nantasket roads affords a large and safe harbor for large fleets from the weather; and the inner harbor, safe from winds, freshets, and enemy, could be securely fortified at an easy expense." After an examination of Noddle's Island (East Boston), - concerning which Admiral Montague is said to have remarked, "God Almighty made Noddle's Island on purpose for a dockyard," -- Mr. Hum- phreys concludes his report by recommending the purchase of twenty- three acres, at Charlestown, for $19,350.1
Negotiations for the purchase of land at Charlestown were continued through the agency of Dr. Aaron Putnam, but were not completed until October.
On March 13, 1801, the secretary enclosed to the Messrs. Higginson,2 the navy agents in Boston, a letter from Captain Samuel Nicholson 3 of com- plaint against them, which they were desired to explain, which is the first
1 It is curious to compare his estimate of the cost of the land, which is about $841 per acre, with its present value in the same neighborhood, which is $2 and $3 per square foot. Ultimately forty-three acres of land were bought at Charles- town, for dockyard purposes, for $39,214. There was no direct authority from Congress to pur- chase this or any other dockyard. They were all bought under the appropriation of $1,000,000 for the building of six 74-gun ships, etc. The executive was seriously censured by the opposi- tion party for having made these purchases with- out express authority; but the wisdom of the measure was undoubted. On March 1, 1801, the sum of $500,000 was appropriated for ex- penses upon the six 74-gun ships, and " for com- pleting navy yards." This was the first appro- priation recognizing their existence, though prior
to that date $199,030.92 had been expended in their purchase and improvement.
2 On April 1, 1801, Samuel Brown, Esq., succeeded Messrs. Higginson & Co., as navy agent, and held the office for six years until he resigned, Aug. 15, 1807. It was a much more important office in those early days of the Navy than subsequently ; and there were frequent con- flicts of authority between the navy agent and commandant which had to be settled by higher authority.
8 He was born in Maryland in 1743, and en- tered the naval service as a lieutenant during the Revolutionary war, and was promoted a cap- tain, Sept. 17, 1779, in the Continental Navy ; on the reorganization, June 10, 1794, he was com- missioned a captain in the United States Navy, to rank next below Captain John Barry.
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THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.
mention of his name in connection with the Yard at Charlestown, of which he was the first superintendent (as the title went) and remained the con- mandant until his death, Dec. 29, 1811. Meanwhile, and before the Yard was ready for occupancy, the Government had de- cided to build a brig at Boston, and her keel was laid in Mr. Hart's yard. .... The making of the con- .. tracts was assigned to Captain Edward Preble. She measured two hundred and ninety-eight 6 tons, and was named the "Ar- gus," carried sixteen guns, and THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE. cost $37,428. After being one of the most successful of our small cruisers, and noted for her achievements in the war against Tripoli, and in that of 1812, she was captured in the English Channel by H. B. M. brig "Pelican," on the 14th of August, 1813.
We learn from the log-book 1 of the "Constitution," that "at 10 A. M., May 21, 1803, Commodore Preble came on board the ship, and as commo- dore took charge of her, lying at her moorings off the Navy Yard where she had been, being in ordinary, ten months and fourteen days." In making ready for the cruise which was to take him to Tripoli, the ship was re- coppered. The log-book on the 26th of June records: "The carpenters gave nine cheers, which were answered by the seamen and calkers, because they had in fourteen days completed coppering the ship with copper made in the States." 2
In August the "Constitution " sailed for the Mediterranean, where she earned for herself the well known sobriquet of "Old Ironsides."
In 1807 Samuel Brown resigned the position of Navy Agent, which was esteemed at that time more important than the office of Superintendent or Commandant of the Navy Yard, and Francis Johonnot, Esq., was appointed to succeed him ; and on July 23, 1808, the secretary directs the latter " not to allow or pay for any repairs to the house occupied by the commandant, other than those previously authorized by the department." This is the first mention made of the commandant's house in the official records, which substantially as it now stands had been one of the earliest improvements of the yard.3
I A copy of which is preserved in the Library and Institute at the Navy Yard.
? The copper was in fact made by Paul Revere, as a correspondence on file in the Navy Depart- ment shows. In the recent celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settle- ment of Boston, the very blocks used to heave out the "Constitution" on this occasion were carried in the procession.
VOL. 111. - 43.
8 [A view of this house from the yard, taken about 1826 and showing the hills behind and the Mystic, is given in Drake's Landmarks of Mid- dlesex, p. 27, in which book chapter ii. is given to "An Hour in the Government Dock Yard." -ED.| This engraving is from a painting by Mrs. Armstrong, wife of the late Commodore Armstrong, which is now in the Naval Library and Institute.
338
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
The year 1811 closed with the death of Commodore Samuel Nicholson,1 the first commandant of the station, who died on the 29th of December, and was buried from the commandant's house, Jan. 2, 1812, with the accus- tomed honors, in the presence of the officers of the Army and Navy sta- tioned or living in the vicinity, the Massachusetts Society of the Cincin- nati, of which he was a member, the officers and members of King Solomon's Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, and of the several lodges in Boston in full regalia. At the time of his death he was sixty-nine years of age ; he was buried under Christ Church in Boston. During his administration the ap- propriations had been scanty, and only such improvements undertaken as were essential. The shot and timber stored in Boston had been removed to the Yard. The commandant's house, a brick store-house,2 marine bar- racks, a hospital and powder magazine, the latter occupied jointly by the war and navy department, and a wharf with a few temporary sheds were all the improvements that had been accomplished. In fact the annual expendi- tures for improvements for all the yards which had been purchased from 1802 to 1811 only averaged about $40,000.
No one seems to have been ordered to fill the vacancy in the office of commandant until March, 1812, when Commodore William Bainbridge was ordered here. He had been in Russia, engaged in mercantile speculations ; but, hearing rumors of a probable war with Great Britain, hastened home, and arriving in Boston in February proceeded at once to Washington, where he reported himself for service, and was in a few weeks ordered to the command of the Boston Navy Yard. At that time the Yard possessed hardly a convenience for building or repairing vessels, or laying them up in ordinary. This was a state of things which the active mind of Bainbridge used every means in his power to remedy. He proceeded at once to ex- amine and survey the harbor and its channels, and made frequent commu- nications to the Government, in which he detailed the security which our commerce would receive from an extensive establishment at Charlestown. Among his reasons for such an establishment, he states that the distance of the Yard from the sea precluded the possibility of surprise, and the chan- nel commanded by Forts Independence and Warren rendered it impossible for any armament then known to advance within gunshot of the Yard without being demolished ; also that the harbor was never closed, and being seldom obstructed by ice could be safely navigated at all times, and could not be effectually blockaded. This last opinion of the commodore was abundantly proved during the war of 1812-14, as throughout it national and merchant vessels proceeded to sea whenever convenient to them, without incurring any very great risk. The President was opposed at first to the commodore's views, but such was Bainbridge's zeal and perseverance that the President at last reluctantly authorized a limited appropriation for the Yard. Previous to
1 Two brothers, Jamcs and John, were distin- guished commanders in the Continental Navy.
2 This building is still standing at the en- trance of the Yard; and the second story is
mainly occupied by the Museum and Library of the Naval Library and Institute, organized in 1843 [and largely encouraged by the writer of this chapter. - ED.]
339
THE NAVY, AND THE CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD.
the commodore's appointment on Jan. 23, 1812, the Navy Agent, Johonnot, had been removed because of "personal afflictions which rendered him inca-
COMMODORE HULL.I
pable of performing his active duties," and Amos Binney was commissioned to the office, which he continued to fill for fourteen years, or until 1826.2
When war was declared with Great Britain, Commodore Murray was
1 [This cut follows a portrait painted in 1813 or 1814, by Stuart, belonging to the family, and now in the Boston Art Museum. Hull dated his despatch announcing his victory over the " Guerrière," " Off Boston Light ; " and as his ship came up the harbor she was greeted with acclamations from a flotilla of gaily decorated vessels. An artillery company gave him a na- tional salute as he landed, and a procession conducted him to his lodgings ; and at a public
banquet, when nearly six hundred sat down, a stirring ode was sung, which had been written by Lucius Manlius Sargent. - ED.]
2 On April 28, 1812, Paul Hamilton, Secre- tary of the Navy. addressed Commodore Bain- bridge for the first time as "Commandant,"-a title ever since retained for the commanding officer of our Navy Yards, whatever his naval rank and title. [See General Palfrey's chapter in the present volume. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
at the head of the Navy, but too old and infirm for active service. Com- modore John Rodgers stood next on the list. James Barron came third, but he was abroad; and Bainbridge was the fourth. This entitled the last to a command afloat, which he hastened to claim. The three best frigates had gone to sea in quest of the enemy, but he was at once ordered to the "Constellation," 38, fitting at Norfolk, Virginia; and on the 15th of Jtily Captain C. R. Perry was temporarily appointed superintendent of the Yard, tintil Commodore Bainbridge should return to the station, or some other officer be appointed. Two days later, Lieutenant Stephen Cassin opened a rendezvous in Boston to recruit able seamen for the " Constellation ; " and on the 28th Captain Perry was relieved by Captain Gordon. On the 9th of August, only twenty-one days after his detachment, Bainbridge was ordered "to proceed to Boston and resume command of the Navy Yard and the gunboats at that place, and at Kennebunk, Saco, and Portland, until the ' Constellation ' is prepared for service."
On the 28th of July the frigate "Constitution," Captain Isaac Hull, arrived at Boston after her escape 1 from the British squadron under Commo-
1 [This famous escape, by which Hull gained so much credit, and which he shared with Lieu- tenant Morris, is minutely described in Captain George Coggeshall's American Privateers, p. 10 ; and on p. 25 will be found an account of the "Constitution's " action with the "Guerrière." It is of course enlarged upon by the usual au- thorities, -Cooper's Naval History, on the Amer- ican side, and James's Naval Ilistory of Great Britain, on the enemy's side. The latter's repu- tation for candor, however, is not good. In Col- burn's United Service Magazine, November and December, 1880, there are articles by Captain Bedford Pim, R. N., and Sir E. J. Reed, K. C. B., on "The Naval War of 1812 with the United States." Of the privateer and letter of marque service of the war, Coggeshall, who himself commanded two such craft, gives the fullest ac- count, published (1856) indeed over forty years after the war had closed, and he claims to give the names of all or nearly all such vessels. The book is not very readable, being mostly such an enumeration. He chronicles two hundred and fifty vessels sent out to capture British mer- chantmen, and to have a brush as they could with the British cruisers. Of this number, Baltimore sent out fifty-eight ; New York, fifty-five ; Salem, forty; and Boston standing fourth on the list, thirty-one, whose names, as Coggeshall gives them, are : " Abaellino," "Argus," " Avon," " Blakely," "Brutus," "Catharine," "Champ- lain," "Charles Morris," "Charles Stewart," " Curlew," " Dromo," " Fame," "George Little," "Gossamer," "Hunter," "Hyder Ali," "Ida," "Ino," "Jacob Jones," "Joel Barlow," " Leo," " Macdonough," " Macedonian," "Rambler," " Ranger," " Rapid," "Reindeer," "Sine qua-
non," " Sphinx," "Volant," "Wily Reynard." A condensed account of this service is given in Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812, but Boston hardly appears in it. - ED.] Oct. 13, 1812,-the Privateer Schooner " Fame," which had seen service as a privateer during the Revo- lutionary War, returned from a cruise of fifteen days, having captured two schooners. The "Hy- der Ali," of Boston, Captain Thorndike, was captured in the East Indies by the British Fri- gate " Owen Glendower," after having taken nine prizes, all of which, however, were recaptured. One of the most famous privateers of the war, the " Truc Blooded Yankee," was owned by Mr. Henry, a brother of Commodore Edward Preble, and was commissioned from Boston under the American flag, though fitted out and sailing from French ports, her owner being temporarily a res- ident of France. She was commanded first by Captain Hailey, and subsequently by Thomas Oxnard, a nephew of her owner. She cruised a greater part of the war in the British and Irish channels, making many rich prizes which were generally sent into French ports, though a few were sent to the United States. One ship sent into Brest, was said to be worth $500,000 ; one laden with dry goods and Irish linens was ordered to the United States, and the ship "Industry " was sent to Bergen, in Norway, and there sold.
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