217 years ago, the ship now known as ‘Old Ironsides’ began its first voyage
The USS Constitution set out from Boston on July 22, 1798.
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On July 22, 1798, an American frigate that would go on to become famous during the War of 1812 left Boston on its first voyage. The USS Constitution, later known as “Old Ironsides,’’ was launched in October 1797, but it was not until a year later that the ship was given its first mission: Patrol the east coast of America.
Between 1798 and 1800, the United States was engaged in an undeclared naval war with the French Republic. The French were stopping American merchant ships, particularly in the Caribbean, taking crews prisoner and selling the cargo, according to Matt Brenckle, historian for the USS Constitution Museum.
“Obviously this was something the U.S. government wanted to stop, and the first mission of the U.S. navy really was to go out and patrol the sea lanes to keep the French from taking American ships,’’ Brenckle said.
So the Constitution, captained by Samuel Nicholson, set out to defend the country’s merchants.
“It was a pretty horribly crowded ship, really,’’ Brenckle said.
He said warships of the period carried a large crew — between 350 and 400 men. On top of the sailors needed to run the ship, between seven and 14 men were needed to fire each of the cannons. Later in 1812, there would be about 480 people on board. All the food, which was either pickled or dried, was brought on in huge barrels.
“When the ship left Boston in July of 1798, it would have been just loaded down with people and stores to keep them alive,’’ Brenckle said.
First they traveled down to Long Island. Then Nicholson got new orders to extend the cruising ground from the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay to Charleston, South Carolina.
The ship didn’t make it to the Caribbean, Brenckle said.
“They basically did nothing, which is sort of funny considering the later career of the ship,’’ he said.
The ship would go on to become famous during the War of 1812. But at this point, Brenckle said, it was like any other ship in the Navy.
And on its first voyage of about 111 days, it made a rookie mistake.
“They ended up capturing one vessel that had a French crew onboard but all the Frenchmen were actually French royalists who were fighting for the British, so the captain actually got into quite a bit of trouble,’’ Brenckle said. “The American government ended up paying the British government about $11,000 in damages for the capture.’’
All in all, Brenckle said, it “wasn’t a super spectacular cruise,’’ but it was important because it was the ship’s first trip out onto the world stage.
The Constitution did make it to the Caribbean on its second cruise, traveling from Boston to Prince Rupert’s Bay, which served as the American base in the West Indies at the time.
“When she did finally make it to the West Indies in late 1798, 1799, the British were very fascinated by Constitution and the other American ships down there,’’ Brenckle said. “They said these were some of the finest ships they’d ever seen, and at one point Constitution raced a British frigate and beat her.’’
Brenckle said the British, who had the most powerful navy in the world at that time, were given the sense that there was a new player in the Atlantic — American ships that could cause them trouble in the future.
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