A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides

408 Pages·1980·54.817 MB·English

by  Tyrone G. Martin

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"Ifeel a strongpredilection for the
Constitution. I think. .she will be a
.
most fortunate Ship; and I am sometimes
good in mypredictions..."
Consul General Tobias Lear
16 October 1804
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Sketch byJohn ( harlt s Roach for U.S.S. Constitution turn-aroundcertificate, Spring l(>7(>.
A
Most Fortunate Ship
A
Narrative History of "Old Ironsides"
by
Tyrone G. Martin
Captain, USS Constitution
(1974-1978)
requot
press
Chester, Connecticut
PUBLIC
LIBRARY^
«
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For
MyMom and Dad,
Proud Americans
4h
©
Copyright 1980 by Tyrone G. Martin
ISBN: 0-87106-033-7
Library of Congress Catalogue Number: 79-52490
Manufactured in the United States of America
All Rights Reserved
First Printing
IV
7005027
Preface
It must have seemed a bit odd to the Queen of England. She was standing in
the Captain's Day Cabin, looking at the desk that had belonged to Charles
Stewart. He commanded USS Constitution when "Old Ironsides" defeated
British warships Cyane and Levant in 1815.
But now the year was 1976, with the United States celebrating the Bicentennial
of the American Revolution. Queen Elizabeth II understood well that the frigate
Constitution is the proudest symbol of the maritime history of the Union that
emerged from that Revolution.
With me as we hosted the Queen on her Bicentennial ship tour was Ty Martin,
Captain of the U.S. Navy's most historic ship. Tall and immaculately dressed in
his "old Navy" uniform, including fore and aft hat, Martin was a perfect escort
for royalty. An outstanding officer, with a long and distinguished career in the
United States Navy, as much an expert on today's Soviety Navy as his
predecessors may have been on the British or French squadrons or the Barbary
pirates, the skipper knew this ship from the billethead to eagle's crest.
Now Tyrone G. Martin's expert knowledge of USS Constitution has been in-
corporated into a narrative history of the ship that has meant freedom of the seas
to generations of Americans. "Old Ironsides," launched in 1797, carrying more
than 50 guns and a crew of 450 men, was never defeated in battle and remains to-
day a commissioned unit of the U.S. Navy.
Martin's book fills the need for a comprehensive history of this great ship and
provides details of some incidents in her career never before widely known. His
volume should be of interest to all those who believe to this day that maritime
superiority is essential for the survival of our country.
WILLIAM MIDDENDORF
II
J.
Secretary of the Navy, 1974-1977
Foreword
— —
I did not intend to write this book or any book on the day I found myself
taking command of Constitution in accordance with routine Navy orders. I had
had 22 years of naval service at that moment, and two previous commands; but
this one, I knew, would be different, if for no other reason than the unique
character of the ship.
I had no special knowledge of Constitution when I took command. Having
been a navy history and records buff from boyhood, I suppose I might have
known a bit more about her than the average citizen, but I certainly wasn't an
"expert" — whatever one of those may be.
Earlier in my career, I had been involved in Naval Intelligence for a number of
years. During those years of reading reams of field reports concerning my area of
particular responsibility, I developed a habit of periodically taking a sort of sab-
batical from the daily routine and writing a paper on some aspect of the subject,
seeking to bring together the disparate elements of the reports into some sort of
cohesive whole that would help me understand developments and thus better ad-
vise my superiors. The habit came with me to Constitution, so that when people
began showing me treasured family documents from an ancestor who had served
aboard "Old Ironsides," and when I had accomplished considerable reading of
available authorities, I again turned to the old habit of writing papers as a learn-
ing device. From that beginning the present work has come.
In undertaking to write about Constitution, I am very sensitive to the fact that
many, many have done so before. The broad outline of her story is not new. But,
in the course of my initially haphazard study, I discovered that some of the
"facts" learned at someone's knee weren't true at all. I also became aware of in-
teresting incidents in her career that apparently never had been made public.
Thus, what I have attempted to do in this present volume is to tell Constitutions
story just as the records show it, balancing it to provide greater detail to those
years after the glories of the War of 1812, to record the great events and the
doldrums, the noble deeds and the moments of human frailty.
This book never would have been without the support and encouragement of a
great number of people, most of whom will have to be satisfied with this general
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