He was pulling your leg (or possibly relating “tour guide history”). The arrow would be the Board of Ordnance “broad arrow” marking the gun as British government property. While the current cannon are apparently all replicas cast in 1930, it was probably copied from an original gun that was captured from the British or left over from pre-Revolution days (cannon lasted forever if properly cared for). See an example here.
I reckon BobLibDem knew that was a Navy/Marine joke.
Marines wouldn’t have been crewing the guns anyway.
Would the shipbuilders know what ship it was going to- and was it known that the ship would be important?
In this case, absolutely yes.
This was one of the original six Navy frigates, a not-insignificant economic undertaking for the fledgling nation and seen in military terms as critical to the continued existence and success thereof.
Full copper sheathing was part of the original construction.
Thanks for the link- it was really interesting to read the whole lot. I think half my question was really “How could they know it would be important so far in the future”: however it seems that ships of the era had a really long life anyway.
Thinking back that is pretty well true anyway. The crew of a vessel of 1750 would be able to pretty well manage a ship of 100 years later (give or take a few decades).
IIRC, two of the six American frigates, Constitution and Chesapeake, are depicted in action (seen from the British side) in Patrick O’Brian’s The Fortune of War. The others are mentioned as well, and the story, though fictionalized, makes clear the real consternation felt in the mighty Royal Navy when their first encounters with the new American ships go against them.
Several years ago in Boston in a rental car I wanted to go see the ship but I got lost. So I stopped at a hardware store for directions and after a few minutes of directions the shop owner said “heck, just get in your cah and follow me.” He drove all the way to docks with me behind him!.. so I’m taking this opportunity to a give a big shout out to that guy.
I was not part of any tour but the crew let me on the ship anyway and tour it myself. It’s a great relic… and the oldest commissioned battleship in the US Navy. Love that boat.
Indeed. After the first few losses, the Admiralty even issued orders for single British ships not to engage the U.S. sail frigates. According to Naval History magazine a few years ago, a digitized version of the USS Constitution stood in for the French frigate Acheron in the movie Master and Commander, based on O’Brian’s works.
Warship, ship or frigate; not technically a “battleship” or a “boat.”
If I were to visit the U.S.S. Constitution, given that it’s a wooden sailing ship, I would want to do so on National Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day.
Arrrrrrr.
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As I understand it, salt water entering wood will make it vulnerable to boring organisms but that is minimized by copper sheets. The real enemy is fresh water (rain) as it will attract dry land molds and other organisms that help rot.
A bit of Constitutional history (as yet unverified):
The U. S. S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers).
However, let it be noted that according to her ship’s log, “On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum.”
Her mission: “To destroy and harass English shipping.”
Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.
Then she headed for the Azores , arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.
On 18 November, she set sail for England . In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rum aboard each.
By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland . Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home.
The U. S. S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky, and 38,600 gallons of water .
GO NAVY
The article on the USS Constitution is the featured page-one article on Wiki today: USS Constitution - Wikipedia
Great picture from July 1997: USS Constitution - Wikipedia
Copper sheathing is to prevent shipworm from eating the planks.
Otherwise,from what I’ve read, water immersed in wood doesn’t really rot any more than water in air, it’s the wet/dry cycling that causes rot more than anything, because wood rot is really a fungal process, and completely submerged wood doesn’t have enough oxygen to support the fungi.
So that’s why the keel hasn’t rotted away; most of the intervening 200+ years have been spent underwater, except for the occasional refit.
I saw a show about this where IIRC they said about 10% of the original wood remained. They showed a couple of pieces. I believe its was all in the interior of the boat.
Wow, I had no idea the Constitution was that old!
It’s no surprise that any 17/18c wooden ship had been rebuilt many times. HMS Victory, the oldest commissioned ship in the world, is also estimated to be only about 15% original. A lot of previous restoration work has also been redone as it was even less durable than the original. She does live on dry land these days though.
As far as the undoubted success of the US navy in the war of independance goes, you should realise that the British were a lot more concerned about the French and the Spanish at the time.
I also note how the teaching of history skewed according to where you learn it. How many American students know that the British took and held Maine in 1814 without hardly a shot fired. An odd result of the treaty of Ghent (where we gave it back) is the continuing dispute over the sovereignty of Machias Seal Island.
Wow, I’d never heard of that before! Amazing the U.S. and Canada haven’t been able to reach an accord after all these years: Machias Seal Island - Wikipedia
I imagine that the captains of HMS Guerrière, Java, Cyane, and Levant were considerably more concerned with Constitution.
There’s a story of a British admiral during the Napoleonic era who used to carry acorns in his pockets. And whenever he was out in the country, he would always plant a few acorns in order to help maintain the future supply of oak trees that Britain would need for her navy. But by the time those acorns he planted became full grown oaks, it was World War II and nobody was building wooden ships anymore.