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Show Weaiesi wcimv 7 m- ! r- ti i "2V(Vw by ELMO SCOTT WATSON Isaac did so maul and rake her, That the decks of Captain Dacre Were in such a woful pickle As if Death, with scythe and sickle, With his sling or with his shaft. Had cut his harvest fore and aft. Thus, in thirty minutes, ended Mischiefs that- could not be mended: Must, and yards, and ship descended All to David Jones' locker Such a ship, in such a pucker! Old Song. Tv URLNG the present nation-f-J f wide campaign to raise F-'3 funds for the restoration ft and preservation of the his toric frigate "Constitution," 5$ it would be singularly ap-. ap-. propriate if this patriotic ef-? ef-? fort were crowned with success suc-cess by August 19. For that Is the 115th anniversary of Old Ironsides' Iron-sides' greatest victory, the day when she fought the terrific engagement with the English frigate Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, and "in one- half hour raised the United States to the rank of a first-class power." In all the brilliant record of this wonderful wonder-ful old warship there is no incident more thrilling than the story of her duel with the proud ship which bore On her sails In letters red. Words of warning, words of dread: "All who meet me have a care! I am England's Guerriere!" On August 2. 1S12, the Constitution, commanded by Capt. Isaac Hull, sailed from Boston in the hope of falling In with some of the British war vessels which were supposed to be lying in wait for American shipping along the Atlantic coast from Nantucket to Halifax. Hali-fax. Hull was especially anxious to meet the Guerriere, commanded by Capt James Richard Daeres, who had sent word to American commanders that his ship was "not the Little Belt" (a reference to the dispute between the two nations over who had been the aggressor in the engagement in which the American ship. President, almost destroyed the British ship, Little Lit-tle Belt, before war had been declared). de-clared). After cruising about in northern waters wa-ters for more than a week, during which time he overhauled several small fry of British shipping, Hull, still seeking big game, finally turned Old Ironsides southward. About two o'clock on the afternoon of August 19 the look-out reported a sail on the hoiizon. Hull Immediately gave chase to the stranger and at half past three discovered that it was a British frigate. frig-ate. Sailing to within a league to the leeward of the enemy, Hull shortened sail, cleared decks for action, hoisted the American flag, beat to quarters and bore down on the enemy to bring her to close combat. Seeing this action the enemy ship also prepared for action and when the Englishman had hoisted three ensigns Hull saw to his joy that his adversary was the one ship-he had been seeking, seek-ing, the Guerriere. Captain Dacres opened the engagement with a broadside broad-side of grapeshot, filled away and sent In another broadside on the other tack. On account of the distance which separated the adversaries, however, neither broadside took effect. For the next hour the two vessels maneuvered much In the manner of two boxers, each trying to get In a position to rake the other with Its gunfire and at the same time avoid being raked. Finally the Guerriere began to draw off with the Constitution in close pursuit, pur-suit, trying to bring the fight to close quarters. At last about six o'clock In the evening the Englishman took a position that Indicated he was willing will-ing to engage In a yard-arm to yard-arm yard-arm fight and Hull closed in until the bows of the Constitution doubled the quarter of the Guerriere. From the moment that the American ship had begun to close In on the enemy the fire of the English guns had begun to strike Old Ironsides. Lieutenant Morris, Hull's second In command, became impatient and, going go-ing to his commander, asked permission permis-sion to open fire. "Not yet," was Hull's quiet response. Nearer and nearer the two warships drew together and again Morris repeated his request only to rereive the same quiet "Not yet." At last as the bows of the American ship drew alongside the enemy, Hull shouted "Now, boys, pour It into them !" Instantly Old Ironsides' forward for-ward guns, which had been doubie-Sshotted doubie-Sshotted with grape and roundshot, poured forth a terrific volley which swept the Guerriere and bathed her decks in the blood of her men. But . the men of the Guerriere had not been Idle. The two ships were now within half a pistol shot of each other and the Englishman's guns were pounding the American vessel. But for every blow that he dealt he received re-ceived two in return. Within fifteen minutes the Guerriere's mizzen-mast was shot away, her main yard was In slings and her hull, spars, sails and rigging were torn to pieces by the hail of metal from the Constitution. The Britisher brought up in the wind as the mizzen-mast gave way and the Constitution passed slowly ahead, poured In a tremendous fire, luffed short around the bows of the enemy to prevent being raked, but fell foul of the Guerriere, her bowsprit running run-ning into the larboard quarter of the enemy ship. At this moment the cabin of the Constitution was set on fire by the forward guns of the Englishman English-man but the flames were put out quickly. As the two vessels lay locked for a moment, each side attempted to board the other. Fierce volleys of musketry . amid the roar of the big guns added to the horror of the scene. The Americans Amer-icans who were attempting to board the enemy were led by Lieutenant Morris, Master Alwyn and Lieutenant Lieuten-ant Bush of the Marines. Morris and Alwyn were severely wotfnded and Bush was shot down. Before the Americans Amer-icans could accomplish their purpose, the sails of the Constitution were filled and she shot ahead and clear of the enemy ship. As she did so the Guerriere's fore-mast went down, carrying car-rying with it the main-mast, leaving that proud ship a shattered wreck rolling in the trough of the sea. Hull hauled off his vessel a short distance away, made hasty repairs on the rigging of his ship and at sunset bore down to a position which would enable him to rake the crippled crip-pled Guerriere. But the Englishman was through. A jack that had been kept flying on the stump of the mizzen-mast was lowered as a signal of Surrender. Hull sent Lieut George C. Read to board the prize. As Read stepped on deck and asked for the commander, Dacres appeared. "Commodore "Com-modore Hull's compliments and he wishes to know If you have struck your flag?" said Read. Dacres, calmly looking over the wreckage that surrounded sur-rounded him, replied dryly, "Well, I don't know; our mizzen-mast Is gone, our mainmast Is gone, and, upon the whole, you may say we have struck our flag." Read then offered the services ser-vices of a surgeon or a surgeon's mate. "Well, I should suppose you had on board your own ship business enough for all your medical officers," said Dacres. "Oh, no," replied Read. "We have only seven wounded, and they were dressed half an hour ago." One casualty which the Constitution Constitu-tion had suffered but which Read did not mention was one illustrative of those ludicrous Incidents whicn so often oft-en accompany historic events. In those days the uniform of American naval commanders was an affair of much gold lace and buttons as to the coat, ruffled shirts and tight knee breeches. At the opening of the engagement Hull, after twice saying "Not yet" to Morris's request tfor permission to open fire, had finally given the word and as he did so he twice bent forward almost to the deck. When the smoke of that first thunderous volley cleared away it was discovered that Hull's energetic movements had split his tight breeches from waistband to the knee ! But there was no time to change then and in this unheroic costume he continued to direct his men throughout the battle. The Constitution kept near her prize all night At dawn the officer in charge of the Guerriere reported that she was filling with water and in danger of sinking. So Hull sent his boats to bring off the prisoners and the prize crew and by three o'clock in the afternoon the ship was deserted. She was too much damaged to be saved, so she was set on fire and fifteen minutes later an explosion that scattered blazing brands far and wide over the waters marked the end of "England's Guerriere." Hull arrived in Boston on August 30 and reported his victory to the secretary of war. When the news spread it was received everywhere with the wildest demonstrations of joy, for it meant that England's reign as "the mistress of the seas" was beginning be-ginning to wane. Hull was the hero of the hour, especially since his victory vic-tory dispelled the gloom that had been caused by the surrender of his uncle, General Hull, at Detroit a short time before. The commander and his meD were feasted at a great celebration in Faneull hall, Hull was voted a gold medal by congress and $50,000 in prize money was distributed among his men. Other cities honored him and the name of Isaac Hull has come down In American naval history along with that of John Paul Jones as one of our greatest naval heroes. Thereafter the Constitution was known as "Old Ironsides," Iron-sides," and although she won other victories none was more brilliant than this one. S- . "s! ' y .-- I . .... - - - -' - X X J, A iv i 5 l"l ' x N NV?1,4,, A. A. 1 lew of the parade in Boston in honor of the visit 01 tne trausatl aiiuc and transpacific aviator, uie Yankee division passag the reviewing stand. 2 Wailinz Y all of the Jews in Jerusalem, access to which is forbidden since the earthquake. 3 Thomas E. Campbell, former governor of Arizona, who may be made ambassador am-bassador to Mexico. |