Earlier this year, a classmate of mine asked for some travel recommendations in the Boston area. Pfft. Anyone who knows me will know my #1 must-see on any visit to Beantown - "Old Ironsides". I've made a few trips to Boston, and every single time I rolled through, I always made it a point to stop in and visit her at her berth.
Constitution and her 5 sister ships were launched by the fledgling United States as the need to protect its maritime interests and project power at a distance became evident. In the late 1700s, US merchant ships were being harassed by the French Navy and Barbary Coast pirates. Also, to supplement its own naval forces, Britain began forcibly conscripting US merchant sailors for service in the Royal Navy.
One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy, Constitution was launched in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1797, and is the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat. While HMS Victory maintains her commission from two decades earlier in 1778, today she's dry-docked in Greenwich, England, and will likely never sail again.
Built of live oak timbers, known for their incredible density and resistance to rot, Constitution's design by Joshua Humphreys was inspired. Her keel was unusually long for a vessel designated a frigate, and her beam (width) was narrower than other ships her size. This hull configuration gave her superb efficiency at slicing through the water. With an acre of canvas hanging from her masts under full sail, she could achieve 13 knots (15 mph) - astonishing for a vessel this size.
The arrangement of timbers forming her ribs was a radical new design that more efficiently carried and transferred the weight of her upper decks to the keel. As a result, Constitution could carry more and heavier guns than other ships of her class. Officially designated a 44-gun frigate, she often exceeded this. Typically, this armament included thirty-two 24-pounder guns and twenty 32-pounder guns, both of which could fire once every two minutes.
Her speed and firepower made Constitution an anomaly. She could easily outgun any ship her size and outrun everything else. After she destroyed HMS Guerriere and HMS Java in two separate battles, the British admiralty issued a directive that the American frigates were not to be engaged in one-on-one skirmishes.
How do you know you're a badass? When the most powerful navy in the world orders its fleet not to tangle with you.
It's hard to describe the first time I saw "Old Ironsides" in person. I imagine it was very similar to a Swifty coming face-to-face with Taylor Swift herself but with slightly less squeeing. I spent untold minutes just looking up at her. Many people may be unmoved by being in such close proximity to such a storied, first-hand witness and participant in US Naval history, but I was definitely not one of them.
As I crossed the gangplank and boarded her, my mind's eye saw the long line of sailors that had crossed that same threshold, seabag slung onto their shoulders, an adventure waiting over the horizon. A slight tremor passed through my hand as I touched the gunwale. I'd just made physical contact with over 200 years of living history, and I smiled.
No, that wasn't a tear I was wiping away, just sea spray from the stiff breeze.
Today, 21 October, is the anniversary of her launch, and effectively her 226th birthday. Happy birthday to a grand old lady. Huzzah!
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