| Show SHIPS GLORIOUS CAREER ENDS famous constitute on declared worn out beyond the constitution Is worn out be yond repair not the written or un written constitution but old iron sides the frigate which bore hull and to victor seventy anve years ago the spirited lines of dr holmes saved it from the wreckers but now the end has come the constitution was launched in 1797 a sister ship of the united states and the president the latter under admiral decatur was captured by the english in 1815 after a treaty of peace had been concluded but there were no cables in those days if there had been jackson would not have fought and defeated pakenham at new or leans it Is now an english training ship and carries sir charles beres tord s flag the constitution was equipped with thirty two long twenty four and twenty thirty two pound carro nades under capt preble it took part in the bombard ment of tripoli in 1 its sailors winning the admiration of the world by taking it and making sail under fire as coolly as if on exhibition in the war of 1812 under capt isaac hull it sank the guerriere in thirty minutes under capt it riddled the java in sixty alve minutes under capt charles stewart it cap aured the cane and the levant it was in 1830 that it was first pro posed to dismantle the constitution now in 1905 it is reported that the frigate is sinking where it lies and it put in dry dock would fall apart of its own weight Is it due to lack of care or to initial differences in con that it cannot reach the age of nelson s battleship the victory the victory was already forty leara old in october 1805 when it aided in destroying the spanish and french fleets off trafalgar it had taken part in the victory of cape st vincent which gave jervis his title as earl when nearly the age at which the con was first condemned it car ailed guns eighteen twenty and thirty two its tonnage was 2 22 94 its oak sides above the water line were two feet thick ani are still stanch the steel bat of to day is old fashioned in five years obsolete in fifteen but this vet eran after forty ears service won its greatest battle the greatest sea fight of the napoleonic wars against a modern fighting machine a whole fleet like the constitution and the victory in their best days would be useless one of the new twelve inch guns will fire twp shots a min ute capable of penetrating fifty one inches of wrought iron the twenty four pound balls of the constitution would rattle harmlessly against the steel armor of the colorado but progress is only relative offensive and defensive armaments have devel aped equally according to sir philip watts director of naval construction in england the present relation between guns and armor is about what it was in the days of the cast iron smooth bore and the oak sides in 1905 as in 1805 or 1812 it Is the man behind the gun that makes the differ ence no nation can afford to fall behind the others in equipment but precision courage loyalty must al ways be the deciding factors where other things are equal |
