The frigate Constitution; the central figure of the Navy under sail

Preface

The history of the Frigate Constitution is undertaken in order to bring within the pages of one volume all the events which go to make a long and interesting career upon the sea. It is the outgrowth of a short article for the " Atlantic Monthly " to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the vessel's launch. She has so long been a favorite topic for storytellers and writers that nothing new remains to be told. It is rather a case for recalling much that has been forgotten. As the formation and service of the sailing navy supply the background which brings our ship into stronger perspective, all the circumstances which had an influence upon her design, construction, and employment are given. While, therefore, in no sense a history of the Navy, it forms a reasonably connected narrative of naval events, and particularly of our good old frigate. The principal authorities for the whole career of the Constitution are the American State Papers, the ship's logbooks, the reports of commanding officers, and various naval iv PREFACE

biograpMes. Cooper's *' History of the Navy," Goldsborougli's *' Naval Chronicle," Eoosevelt's "History of the War of 1812," and several admirable articles by Mr. J. R. Soley have been consulted and used. It hardly seems necessary to acknowledge indebtedness for tales and minor details which have been common property for half a century. This volume was prepared during the summer of the Spanish War, when the writer watched with pride and solicitude the service of his former comrades who have worthily maintained the traditions of the Old Navy. With the hope of making clearer the relation of the sailor to the country and of stimulating the interest in rebuilding the ship, it is now given to the public.

IRA N. HOLLIS.

Cambridge, September 19, 1900.

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I. Introduction — Frigates as the Cruisers of

THE Sailing Navies 1

Chapter I Introduction — Frigates As The Cruisers Of The Sailing Navies

The events connected with the life of a nation are often intimately associated with objects and places. These have a permanent value, preserving for us, if we do not neglect them, the outward semblance they presented to the men and women who gave them their places in history. The importance of Bunker Hill, of Independence Hall, and, more recently, of Gettysburg, as sources of inspiration to the youth of this republic can hardly be overestimated. They express the true spirit of liberty and the love of country even better than the noblest writings. Among the objects that must always be dear to the American people is the old ship Constitution, now lying neglected under a temporary roof at the Boston Navy Yard. Her career, outside of its historic value, is eventful and romantic. No ship has ever seen more life and action.

The first twenty years of her existence were filled with events of the greatest importance to the new nation formed on this side of the Atlantic. She came at a period when we sorely needed a strong arm to vindicate for the second time our right to independence and to the untrammeled development of our own institutions. Her victories did much to teach a few scattered colonies, or states, respect for themselves and faith in their own united strength. Perhaps more than all else she stands to-day for the freedom of the seas. Around her are woven the memories of our great sailors, many of whom obtained their early training upon her decks. Her history is almost a history of the Navy during its most critical period, and she has survived to us the heirloom of a glorious past, which cannot be forgotten so long as her wooden walls stand firm. She holds a place as a representative of the days of sails, and is one of the finest examples of the wooden frigate at its best. As a type in marine warfare her class was the flower of the sailing period ; and although sails were soon to be superseded, there was still time for her victories to work great changes in European navies. Her model and armament were copied by England before the War of 1812 had closed, as it was imperative to build something that could overtake and destroy her. In her day, the organization of men to manoeuvre and fight ships had reached a high state of perfection. It is probable that we shall never find crews better adapted by nature to contend with the sea, or better fitted by training to carry their ships into distant seas and fight them, than were the seamen on the decks of the old Constitution. Soon after she was launched, experiments on the steam propulsion of vessels demonstrated the power of the steam-engine, and the first voyage of the Clermont inaugurated changes which have taken place with increasing rapidity, and have relegated the armed sailing-vessel to a past already growing hazy to the young men of the Navy. In another generation there will be few of them who have ever served on a sailing-ship, except for a short time by way of practice. This story is written, therefore, with the hope of keeping alive the interest in our old ships and in the sailors who contributed with their lives to the welfare of their country. It has been written and rewritten in naval histories, too often simply as a chronicle of triumphs calculated to exalt American pride. While her victories were real, their influence upon the march of events was moral, and they gather their greatest value from the lessons they have taught. The events of the early history of the

4 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION

Navy are so closely interwoven that it becomes difficult to select from many things only those which have a direct bearing upon the career of the Constitution. The line is, therefore, not closely drawn, in order that the conditions under which her work was done may be clearly understood.

The sailing-frigates occupied in the old navies much the same place as the cruisers of modern times. They were what Nelson called " the eyes of the fleet," and often served as scouts to watch the movements of the enemy. Before the invention of the telegraph and the steam-engine, campaigns were relatively much longer. The whereabouts of a ship, or of a fleet, could not always be ascertained during the course of a reasonable cruise ; and even when positively known, a hostile meeting might be indefinitely postponed by adverse winds. Two fleets might dodge each other for months. Fast frigates formed the natural lookouts and auxiliaries in fleet service. They were sent out to bring back to an appointed rendezvous all the information that could be secured by scouring the seas and speaking every merchant-vessel brousfht within hail. To increase effectiveness in this service, the hulls of frigates were made large enough to carry a great spread of canvas, and the lines were drawn relatively fine, so that they could outsail anything afloat. They also carried batteries capable of destroying all armed craft except line-of-battle-ships. As commerce-destroyers they were very useful.

At the time the Constitution was built, three classes of ships formed the bulk of most navies, — sloops, frigates, and line-of -battle-ships. They usually carried three masts with square sails, and were distinguished by the number of decks having complete batteries, although the nomenclature was not always applied alike by different writers, and the rating was not a reliable indication of a ship's 2)ower. The term " sloop " had a technical meaning when applied to armed vessels. In ordinary use, it signified a single-masted fore-and-aftrigged vessel carrying a jib ; but in the Navy the name was also applied to vessels with all their guns on the upper deck. A brig, or a schooner, might belong to this class by virtue of carrying the guns on one deck. At the beginning of the century a sloop-of-war, or corvette, mounted from eighteen to thirty guns on the spar-deck ; sometimes with part of the battery on a raised quarter-deck and forecastle. The Levant, captured by the Constitution in 1815, was a typical sloop. She had on a single deck eighteen 32-pound carronades, two long 9-pounders, and one shifting 12-pounder. This battery is characteristic, and indicates the usual armament of the sloop in the old navies.

6 THE FKIGATE CONSTITUTION

The frigate was always ship-rigged, and carried guns on two decks, the main or gun-deck having a complete battery, and the upper or spar-deck having guns only on the forward and after parts. The waists seldom mounted any guns. At first the power of a frigate was correctly indicated by the number of guns, as a thirty-six, or a forty-four gun ship ; but after the invention of the carronade much confusion arose, as many guns were added to ships without change in their classification. The old batteries were usually from twenty-six to thirty long 18-pounders on the gun-deck, and from six to twelve long guns of lighter calibre on the upper deck. The size and shape of the hull precluded a heavy battery on the spar-deck, on account of topheaviness and consequent danger of capsizing. The introduction of the carronade in the latter part of the eighteenth century supplied the Navy with large-calibre guns weighing very much less than the old guns. They were not so effective at long ranges, but they quickly replaced long guns on the upper decks of frigates, wholly or in part ; and, in most cases, ports were cut to mount additional carronades. Thus a thirty-eight-gun frigate often carried forty-nine guns, and all classes of vessels had from eight to twelve more guns than they rated. The gun-deck battery remained practically the same, with some increase in weight after the experience with the American frigates.

Line -of -battle -ships, as their name indicates, were intended to take the shock of battle between fleets. They carried guns on three or more decks. Two of these decks had full batteries, usually of thirty long guns, and carronades were placed on the quarter-deck and the forecastle. The smallest line-of-battle-ship was so vastly superior to an ordinary frigate that a captain in command of the latter was entirely justified in declining an action with the former. It was easy to escape, as the line-of-battle-ship was heavy and clumsy under sail. Nor was there any discredit in surrendering a sloop to a frigate, as few commanders would risk the lives of their men in so unequal a contest. The nomenclature* was often misleading, however, as vessels in the same class varied greatly in power. At one end of the scale there were frigates carrying thirty-four guns, which fired a broadside of four hundred and fifty-four pounds, as opposed, at the other end, to frigates delivering from seven to eight hundred pounds in one broadside. Similar statements aj^ply to sloops and line-of-battle-ships. Modern types differ almost as much, and the term " cruiser," nowadays, includes vessels of vastly different power and speed. Yet commanding officers of the old Navy felt a certain obligation to fight ships of their own rating, and were sometimes beaten by being outclassed. Some of the English writers complained bitterly that we had deceived them at the outset of the War of 1812, because our frigates were superior to theirs, forgetting that the term " frigate " was a very elastic one, and referred only to the method of placing the guns.

In comparing the actual sizes of ships, arbitrary rules for measuring tonnage were adopted by different governments. The first law of Congress was taken from the merchant-service, which aimed mainly at the cargo-carrying capacity. The rule is given here, although somewhat technical, to show that the tonnage had no fixed relation to the displacement of a ship. "Measure from the fore part of the main stem to the after part of the stern post above the upper deck ; take the breadth thereof at the broadest part above the main wales, one half of which breadth shall be counted the depth ; deduct from the length three fifths of such breadth ; multiplying the remainder by the breadth and the product by the depth ; divide by 95 : the quotient is the tonnage." The English had a similar rule, which gave a smaller result than ours by fully fifteen per cent. Even had the tonnage worked out the same for two different ships by either rule, the contents would not necessarily have been alike, on account of a difference in the lines. No reliance can be placed on comparisons based upon the earlier measurements, but a later act of Congress placed the whole subject on a better footing. Fortunately, the question of tonnage was of very little importance in actual warfare except that it gave a rough idea of the space for handling guns, berthing the crew, and storing provisions, ammunition, and water.

The guns were mounted in crude wooden carriages formed by two brackets or sides joined together at the ends by crosspieces called transoms. They were elevated and depressed by means of handspikes placed under the breech, which always had preponderance over the muzzle, and a wedge served to hold the gun at the proper elevation. The same handspikes were also used in training the gun horizontally forward and aft with the aid of side-tackles. Breech-ropes secured to eye-bolts in the hull passed through a jaw in the rear end of the gun to limit the recoil ; and several tackles served for hauling out or holding the gun in any position on deck. The rolling and pitching of a ship in a seaway immensely complicated the problem of loading and aiming, and the selection of the proper moment for firing demanded great judgment. During the discharge, the gun and carriage were thrown violently inboard, and, if the inclination of the deck happened to assist the recoil, there was danger of pulling out the bolts which held the ropes and tackles. A heavy gun broken loose from its fastenings during action was likely to prove an ugly customer in a seaway ; more dangerous, perhaps, than the batteries of an enemy. This accident was by no means uncommon. It occurred a number of times on English frigates, and was usually credited to decayed timbers.

During the War of 1812, the British had no regulated sights for their guns, and they suffered by comparison with the Americans, who were clever enough to provide fair substitutes for the modern sight-bar. In some cases tubes were placed along the tops of the guns, with adjustments for various elevations or distances. The height of the decks above water level also liad an important bearing upon the fighting qualities of a ship. Other things being equal, the vessel with the higher decks had the advantage in a rough sea. Cases have been known where line-of-battle-ships could not use their lower-deck guns at all, thus reducing them practically to frigates in power. In the battle between the Wasp and the Frolic, the former rolled her lee sides to the muzzles of the guns. It was therefore important in construction to place the decks as far as practicable above the wato line, and to design the ships with special reference to a steady gun-platform. As will be seen, the American frigates were superior to the British in these respects ship for ship, until the latter began to improve on the Constitution class.

When a sailing-vessel went into action she usually carried the wind abeam, and the pressure on the sails tended to steady her, but it gave her a list to leeward, and the ship to windward consequently rolled deeply towards her opponent and exposed her decks to shot, while, on the other hand, the ship to leeward lifted her sides high out of water and exposed her hull. If a shot penetrated near the normal water line and the commander found it expedient to tack, he immediately brought the hole below water on the lee side and was in danger of filling. Under any circumstances, men were called away from their duties to work the pumps or to plug the hole. The ship to windward had another advantage. The slope of the deck was toward the target, and the guns were forced to slide uphill in recoiling, thus lessening the strain on the tackles. Another consideration in connection with the windward side, or the weather gauge, as it was called, related to choice of time and position. A vessel with the weather gauge could run down and engage her antagonist at any time, or she might by heading to windward postpone action to a favorable moment. When two ships approached each other with hostile intent, their commanders usually manoeuvred for advantage. Each tried to get to windward of the other, and to reach a position from which his enemy could be raked by a whole broadside. Raking consisted in placing a ship at right angles to the course of another vessel, either directly astern or ahead and firing lengthwise of her decks. There were more chances of striking the masts and rigging in that position than when training across an enemy's deck. The ship which was being raked had the serious disadvantage of being able to bring only a few bow or stern guns to bear upon an opponent. The first object of American officers seems to have been to cut away an enemy's masts and rigging, thus enabling them to take a raking position.

The percussion cap was not invented until after the War of 1812. Before its introduction on board ship, guns were fired by means of a flint lock or a match. In the latter case, the powder and shot were rammed home through the muzzle, and a wire was run down the vent to pierce the powder cartridge ; then - a powder-horn was turned into the vent and a train laid. When the moment to fire a-rrived, the train was lighted by the match. All of this required time. We do not wonder, therefore, that American officers expected to expend many shots in practice for the purpose of acquiring the skill to obtain one hit against an enem3^ Guns were fired preferably in broadside instead of singly.

and the battery was aimed in converging lines in order to concentrate the fire as much as possible. By aiming at the water line near a mast, the shot had three chances ; if too low, it might ricochet on the water and strike the hull ; if too high, it might bring down a mast ; while, if it struck the point aimed at, the hull was injured in a vital part. There were three types of guns, the long gun, the carronade, and the columbiad. The long gun, which had been in use for several centuries, was cast very heavy. Its length and the weight of powder charge insured the maximum range and penetration possible at that time. The dimensions of the 18 and 24-pounders were 5^0% inches and 5y^Q^Q inches in bore respectively, and upwards of nine or nine and one half feet in length. The powder charge was not far from six pounds, and the range with an elevation of one degree was about six hundred yards. On account of their great weight, these guns were placed as low as possible in the ship. The carronade, which took its name from the town of Carron, where it was first made, was much lighter. A 32-pounder had a bore of 6^ inches and a length of four feet, and the muzzle was cast comparatively thin. The charge of powder was only 2 J pounds, and the range at an elevation of one degree was three hundred and eighty yards. The effect of the heavier shot was more that of a battering-ram, and it was used at close quarters to knock in the sides of a ship rather than to penetrate. The lightness of this gun gave it a place on the highest deck, where it did not seriously reduce the stability. The columbiad was between the long gun and the carronade in size. As there is no record of its use on the Constitution or by any of her opponents in war, it is not necessary to describe it here.

The different types of guns were never equivalent in their effects, as a large shot fired with a low velocity might have the same energy as a small shot with a high velocity and yet produce a very different result. It is therefore extremely difficult to compare the power of two ships unless their batteries were composed of the same types of guns. The long gun always possessed an advantage over the others, as it could be used outside of the range of carronades and columbiads. Besides the great advantage of being able to cripple an antagonist before coming to close quarters, a ship armed with superior long guns could load and fire more deliberately. On the other hand, the carronade could be handled more quickly, and was accounted more available at short range. Mr. Roosevelt, in his " History of the War of 1812," says that a long 12-pounder, an 18-pound columbiad, and a 32-pound carronade were almost equivalent to one another.

The projectiles in common use were solid shot, shrapnel, canister, bar shot, and chain shot. The weight of the shot was not accurately given. On account of the spherical shape, it was purposely made to fit loosely in the gun, so that imperfections in manufacture could not cause it to stick in the bore. A slight variation in size or density made no difference ; consequently an eighteenpound shot might weigh nineteen pounds and a twenty-four-pound shot only twenty-three pounds. As a matter of fact, there is good ground for believing that American shot was usually under weight, and that French shot was over weight, while the English were commonly accurate in their sizes and weights. Explosive shells with percussion fuses did not come in until long after the period of the Constitution's greatest usefulness ; nevertheless, the crews often suffered severely from flying splinters. A heavy shot striking a timber, or a wooden projection, was likely to shiver it and throw pieces in all directions. The gun-carriages themselves, being of wood, formed a great element of danger if struck.

A good estimate of the distance, or range, was vital to success unless ships were within pistol-shot of each other. For long ranges, the shot rose high in the air and fell at a plunging angle as if fired at a target lying horizontal, and it was therefore necessary to know accurately the distance of this target. There were several methods of obtaining this distance by the help of a sextant. One of them depended upon knowing the height of the enemy's masts and by using their angular elevation in connection with a mathematical table. Another method consisted in treating the ship as the base of a horizontal triangle, of which the enemy formed the apex. The two base angles were measured simultaneously and the triangle constructed. These measurements were so crude and unsatisfactory that an engagement almost always terminated at short range where the exact distance was unimportant. The present method of taking the angle from the horizon down to the water line of a target and finding the distance from a table constructed for that purpose did not become common in the Constitution's day.

As ships often came to close quarters for the purpose of fighting their battles by a hand to hand encounter on deck, the crews were armed with pistols and cutlasses. These, with boarding-pikes placed in convenient racks, formed the best weapons for boarding an enemy, or for repelling boarders, when attacked. A few men of every gun's crew were detailed for this service, and they were called away by the sound of a large rattle. The marines were armed with muskets and stationed in places most effective for picking off officers and men. Several men were placed in every top. It was from a ship's top that Nelson was killed at Trafalgar, and that Captain Lambert was mortally wounded in the action between the Constitution and the Java.

Ships usually went into action under topsails, topgallant-sails, jib and spanker ; the courses, the lowest square sails, were hauled up, and the light sails overhead were furled. Sometimes the topgallant-sails were also furled, and in squally weather the heavy sails were reefed. The clews, or lower corners of the square sails, were stopped to the yards to keep the sails spread in case the sheets were shot away, and the yards were hung in slings for greater security. The pumps were rigged and every precaution was taken against fire and water. Tubs of water were placed in the channels, and the decks were thoroughly wet down and sanded to make the footing secure. Ammunition was collected near the guns. The men went to their stations at the beat of a drum, a certain number to each gun, and a few to look after the general management of the ship under sail. The members of the guns' crews were numbered, and every number had specified duties for all emergencies that might arise. At a given signal certain men were called away from the guns to extinguish fire, to trim sails, to repair rigging and spars, to repel boarders, or to board another ship, depending upon the demands of the occasion. In the midst of a scene of apparently indescribable confusion, there was really the most perfect order, as every man in a crew of four or five hundred knew and could recite his duties for every contingency of ordinary cruising or action.

Many of the old sailing-vessels were overcrowded, and men lived almost like kenneled dogs. Each enlisted man had only twenty-two ifiches by eight feet of deck room for his hammock, and that on an unventilated deck near the water line. Air could be obtained only by means of canvas ducts, or windsails, hoisted to catch the passing breeze. Some commanders, like Captain Porter, permitted the men to sleep on the gun-deck, and thus gave them more breathing-space, but this practice was not prescried by the navy regulation. The officers had bunks in the after part of the ship, where there was more room, but even they must have suffered from overcrowding. The quarters in the lower part of the Constitution are unventilated, and it would seem impossible to live in them over night ; yet men managed to occupy them and to enjoy life on board ship. Some conception of the limited space for the crew is afforded by the relative dimensions of the Constitution and a modern battleship.

The crews are practically the same, and yet the latter is five times the size of the former. Even this does not express the relative comfort in the two cases, as a sailing-vessel necessarily remained at sea for long and uncertain periods, and the men could not relieve the tedium of life by frequent outings on shore. The element in favor of the old ships was the absence of coal and steam.

The crews often suffered from disease, scurvy being: not at all uncommon. The record of the Constitution's log shows a daily sick list varying from eighteen to twenty-seven out of a crew of four hundred and sixty-eight during the month preceding the action with the Guerriere ; and on some of her cruises, the sick list ran up into alarming numbers. Bad ventilation and salt food were not alone responsible. Medical science was in its infancy, and the surgeons had neither the means nor the skill to combat diseases now easily treated by well-trained physicians. Then, too, they were entirely dependent upon water from the shore, which frequently introduced sickness and epidemics on board ship. Few can realize what distilled water, good ventilation, and canned meats have done for the sailors of our day.

In the United States Navy, the diet was not unwholesome, but it was fearfully monotonous at sea, where all provisions were dried or salted. The ration fixed by Congress in 1801 for each man is given in the following table : —

Sunday. — 1;^ lbs. beef, 14 oz. bread, \ lb. flour, ^ lb.

suet, J pint spirits.

Monday. — 1 lb. porK, 14 oz. bread, J pint peas, J

pint spirits.

Tuesday. — 1 lb. beef, 14 oz. bread, 2 oz. cheese, J

pint spirits.

Wednesday. — 1 lb. pork, 14 oz. bread, \ pint rice,

^ pint spirits.

Thursday. — 1;^ lbs. beef, 14 oz. bread, ^ lb. flour, \

lb. suet, ^ pint spirits.

Friday. — 14 oz. bread, \ pint rice, 4 oz. cheese, 2

oz. butter, ^ pint molasses, ^ pint spirits. Saturday. — 1 lb. pork, 14 oz. bread, ^ pint peas, \

pint vinegar, ^ pint spirits.

Bread and spirits appear with unfailing regularity, the one usually stale and the other always good. Sometimes in port the men got fresh provisions by commuting a certain number of rations to be paid in money. They were often able to lay in potatoes and onions for themselves. The crew of a ship were divided into messes with from eight to twelve men in each mess for the convenience of supplying them. There was a ship's cook for all, and one boy for each mess. The latter drew the provisions from the purser and took general care of the outfits. Their lot was not an enviable one

Brass Ilutvitzer

ORDNANCE OF 1800 under the best of conditions. Although there was much sickness and many deaths at sea, it was possible, as Captain Porter demonstrated in the Essex by strict regulation as to diet and cleanliness, to keep a crew in good health for long periods. A sailor required in those days, as in these, as much looking after as a child. The grog question did not become a burning one until later, when, fortunately for the Navy, the spirit ration was abolished. The Constitution often carried six months' sea stores, and, as the amount required for the daily issue was about twenty-eight gallons, the cargo of whiskey placed on board must have been fully one hundred barrels. It formed the largest single item of expense for the stores of a ship.