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In this Thomas Birch painting, the Constitution delivers its first broadside, dismasting the British frigate Guerriere. (U.S. Naval Academy Museum, courtesy of thehistorynet.com)
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Commodore
Isaac Hull
Brief Encounter With British Frigate Made Constitution 'Old Ironsides,' Her Captain A Hero
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
Isaac Hull and the frigate Constitution seemed destined to be linked. In 1794, the Connecticut native had given up his ambition to be a merchant seaman only to find his uncle, Gen. William Hull, had secured a commission for him aboard the Constitution. Leaving the ship as a first lieutenant in 1802, he received his first command in 1803 and distinguished himself in the Barbary Wars. In 1810, he was given command of the Constitution when a higher-ranking officer decided the ship was too slow for his tastes.
The match was fortuitous. In July 1812, Hull saved the Constitution when the ship was surrounded by five British warships, including the Guerriere. It was America's first naval encounter -- and first victory at sea -- of the War of 1812.
But this was not chance. Hull paid a great deal of attention to his ship. Before taking sail as commander, he had its copper bottom denuded of 10 wagonloads of oysters, mussels, barnacles, and seaweed, using an iron scraper of his own invention for part of the operation. He also replaced some of the weapons on board with lighter and longer-range 32-pound cannons.
Thus, when the Constitution, with its tight-fitting frame of Georgia live oak and its acre of canvas sails, next met the Guerriere, Hull did not fret. Instead, on Aug. 19, 1812, near the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he held fire against the British and closed bows-on, in order to present the smallest possible target, crying, "Not yet, sir, not yet," to his gunnery lieutenant. Capt. James Dacres of the Guerriere shot distance charges that made not the smallest dent in Hull's ship. One of the 450-member Constitution crew then famously shouted, "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!"-- and the nickname "Old Ironsides" was born.
Unfortunately for the enemy, the Guerriere was not made of iron. At last, when the ships drew close, Hull yelled, "Now, boys, pour it into them!" -- with such vigor that his breeches split. In his book "The War of 1812," Theodore Roosevelt described what happened next: "By the time the ships were fairly abreast, at 6.20, the Constitution shot away the Guerriere's mizzen-mast, which fell over the starboard quarter, knocking a large hole in the counter, and bringing the ship round against her helm."
The flag of the British ship was struck in surrender, and its frame so crippled that prisoners had to be transferred and the ship burnt. In this half-hour battle, the United States rose to the rank of a first-class naval power, and Hull to the rank of commodore and hero.
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