On the morning of October 21, 1797, the people of Boston gathered along the harbor to watch a ship—three years in the making—slip into the Atlantic. The 44-gun frigate USS Constitution rested poised on the greased ways of Edmund Hartt’s North End shipyard, its…
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On August 19, 1812, the USS Constitution earned its nickname: Old Ironsides. Launched in 1797, the wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate, under the command of Captain Isaac Hull, “sailed from Boston on August 2, 1812 to off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the afternoon of August 19,…
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In the early years of the United States, the issue of establishing a permanent navy was a matter of considerable debate and concern. The fledgling nation, emerging from its War of Independence, recognized maritime power’s importance for defense and commerce and took action. On…
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