A RACE FOR THE LIFE OF A NATION
STORY OF THE _CONSTITUTION’S_ ESCAPE FROM A BRITISH SQUADRON OFF
THE JERSEY BEACH--FOUR FRIGATES AND A LINER WERE AFTER HER--FOR
MORE THAN TWO DAYS THE BRAVE OLD CAPTAIN STOOD AT HIS POST WHILE
THE SHIP TACKED AND WORE AND REACHED AND RAN, AND THE TIRELESS
SAILORS TOWED AND KEDGED AND WET THE SAILS TO CATCH THE SHIFTING
AIR--THOUGH ONCE HALF-SURROUNDED AND ONCE WITHIN RANGE, _OLD
IRONSIDES_ ELUDED THE WHOLE SQUADRON TILL A FRIENDLY SQUALL CAME TO
WRAP HER IN ITS BLACK FOLDS AND CARRY HER FAR FROM DANGER.
As the story of the first cruise of the _Essex_ shows how thoroughly
the American seamen were drilled in that day, and, after a fashion,
somewhat of their skill in the use of weapons, so the story of an
adventure of another American war-ship--an adventure that occurred soon
after the _Minerva_ refused to fight the _Essex_--shows in a splendid
light their skill and unwearied strength as seamen. This adventure was
the escape of the _Constitution_, Captain Isaac Hull, from a British
squadron off the Jersey coast--somewhat to the south, indeed, of the
modern racing ground between English and American crack yachts, but
near enough to be worth mentioning.
The _Constitution_, after the Portsmouth incident, returned to
Chesapeake Bay and was there cleaned and coppered. Before this work was
done war was declared, but as soon as possible she was floated and a
new crew shipped. This crew numbered, including officers, etc., four
hundred and fifty. Of them Captain Hull wrote, at the time, to the
Secretary of the Navy:
“The crew are as yet unacquainted with a ship-of-war, as many have but
lately joined and have never been on an armed ship before.... We are
doing all that we can to make them acquainted with their duty, and in a
few days we shall have nothing to fear from any single-deck ship.”
That is to say, the crew contained many green hands instead of
experienced sailors like those on the British war-ships. But though
inexperienced they were intelligent--they could learn readily, and they
were to a man _willing_. A most important fact about the American crews
at that time was that even the landsmen were willing and able workers.
The experienced members of the crews, of course, fought with a will in
very many cases because of their hatred of the British press-gang. But
that does not account for all the excellent qualities of the American
crews. The Yankee was willing and able because he was the best-fed
naval seaman in the world. The humane system of treatment, made
imperative when the fathers of the nation were careful to provide that
canvas for pudding-bags be served out at proper intervals, had been
continued wherever American warships were found.
And it is worth noting in connection with this subject that when
American and English ship-captains met socially during the interval
between the Tripoli war and that of 1812 the English habitually sneered
at the American system that gave the men plenty of good food and good
pay, and prohibited an officer from striking a forecastleman, and
limited the punishment by the lash to a dozen strokes, which could only
be inflicted after a court-martial at that.
Leaving the capes of the Chesapeake on July 12, 1812, the
_Constitution_ beat her way slowly through light airs up the coast for
five days. Then on Friday, the 17th, at 2 P.M., “being in twenty-two
fathoms of water off Egg Harbor” (from twelve to fourteen miles
offshore) “four sail of ships were discovered from the mast-head, to
the northward and inshore--apparently ships-of-war.” Captain Hull
thought they were the American squadron under Commodore Rodgers, and so
held on his drifting course. Two hours later the lookout saw another
sail. The others were northwesterly from the _Constitution_, but this
one was in the northeast, and she was heading for the _Constitution_
under full sail. But the fact that she was under full sail must not be
taken as indicating that she was making any great headway. In fact, at
sundown she was still so far off that her signals could not be made out.
However, this ship in the northeast was manifestly alone, and so
Captain Hull stood for her. She might be a friend, but if she and the
others were of the enemy it would be safer to attack the single one.
At about this time the breeze shifted to the south, and, wearing
around, Captain Hull set studding-sails to starboard to help him along,
and then as the light was fading in the west he beat to quarters. And
thereafter with the men at their guns and peering through the ports for
glimpses of the stranger the two ships drew slowly toward each other.
But they did not get together. At 10 o’clock Captain Hull hoisted his
secret night-signal, by which American ships were to know each other,
and kept it up for an hour. The stranger being unable to answer, it was
plainly an enemy. Captain Hull had correctly concluded that the ships
inshore were also of the enemy. So he “hauled off to the southward and
eastward and made all sail.”
[Illustration: Isaac Hull.
_From an engraving, at the Navy Department, Washington, of the painting
by Stuart._]
As the event proved, the lone ship for which the _Constitution_ had
been heading was the _Guerrière_, Captain Dacres, while the squadron
in the northwest included the ship-of-the-line _Africa_, the frigates
_Shannon_, _Belvidera_, and _Eolus_, and the United States brig
_Nautilus_ that the squadron had captured a short time before. The
squadron was under Captain Philip Vere Broke, of the _Shannon_, and
it had been sent out from Halifax immediately after the squadron of
Commodore Rodgers had vainly chased the _Belvidera_.
Now, although Captain Hull headed the _Constitution_ offshore, he
did not by any means try to avoid the _Guerrière_. He held a course
enough to the eastward to enable her to draw near. What he wanted was
to draw her clear of the rest before he fought her. But in this he
was not successful. At 3.30 o’clock the next morning (July 18th) the
_Guerrière_ was but half a mile from the _Constitution_, and the two
were nearing each other hopefully, when the _Guerrière_ saw for the
first time the other ships spread out inshore in chase. At that Captain
Dacres made the private British signal, but it was not answered because
the captains inshore assumed that Dacres knew who they were--and that
misunderstanding led these captains to say unpleasant things to each
other afterwards.
Supposing that the failure to answer his signals was due to the ships
inshore being Yankees, Captain Dacres wore the _Guerrière_ around and
ran away from the _Constitution_ for some time before he discovered
his mistake. Meantime the ships inshore had had the benefit of enough
wind to bring them within dangerous distance of the _Constitution_, so
that when the wind failed the _Constitution_, as it did at 5.30 in the
morning, her condition was desperate. The _Guerrière_ having once more
entered the chase, there were four frigates and a ship of the line all
spread out in such fashion as would enable them to take advantage of
the slightest change in the direction of the wind, and three of them
were less than five miles away. It was then that the most famous race
between warships known to the annals of the American navy really began,
for up to that time Captain Hull had not tried to avoid the _Guerrière_.
Seeing now that he must fly from all, Captain Hull called away all
his boats, and running a line to them, sent them ahead, towing the
_Constitution_ away to southward. Although some little air was still
wafting on the enemy they very promptly imitated the example of the
_Constitution_. In fact, they did better, for the boats of the squadron
were concentrated on two ships, and what with their aid and the faint
zephyr blowing they gained rapidly on the _Constitution_. In fact,
at 6 o’clock the _Shannon_, which was in the lead, opened fire on the
_Constitution_, her captain being of the opinion that she was within
reach of the long guns.
The shot failed to reach, but the captain of the _Constitution_ “being
determined they should not get her without resistance on our part,
notwithstanding their force,” ordered one of the long twenty-four
pounders brought from the gun-deck up to the poop where it would bear
over the stern at the enemy. A long eighteen was brought from the
forecastle to do similar service, while two long twenty-fours were run
out of the cabin windows below.
[Illustration:
_Africa._
_Constitution._
_Shannon._
_Eolus._
_Guerrière._
_Belvidera._
The _Constitution’s_ Escape from the British Squadron after a Chase of
Sixty Hours.
_From an engraving by Hoogland of the picture by Corné._]
At 7 o’clock one of these long twenty-fours was tried on the _Shannon_,
but the ball fell short. It did some good, however, for it showed the
enemy that their boats were in danger, and so prevented their towing
fairly within gunshot.
But this by no means freed the _Constitution_. If they did not dare
tow up within range astern, they could with their superior forces tow
their vessels out on each side of her, and so far surround her as to
absolutely prevent her escape when a wind did come, and the situation
was apparently more nearly hopeless for the _Constitution_ than at any
time since the chase began.
In this emergency the wit of the “smart Yankee” executive officer of
the _Constitution_--Lieutenant Charles Morris--gave the ship a new
lease of life. Morris had had experience in towing a ship through
crooked channels by means of a light anchor carried ahead with a line
attached to haul on. This method of towing is called kedging. Dropping
a lead-line over the rail, Morris found that the water was but one
hundred and fifty-six feet deep, and suggested at once that they kedge
her along.
A few minutes later the _Constitution’s_ largest boat was rowing away
ahead with a small anchor on board, and stretching out a half mile of
lines and cables knotted together. When that anchor was dropped to the
bottom the men on the ship began to haul in on the line--to walk away
with it at a smart pace, and the speed of the _Constitution_, which at
best had been no more than a mile an hour, was at once trebled. She was
literally clawing her way out of trouble, clear of the enemy.
Meantime another kedge and a fresh line were made ready, so that by
the time the crew had tracked the ship to the first anchor a second
one was in the mud a half mile ahead and ready for them. In this way
a substantial gain was made on the enemy, who lagged under the slower
work of the men towing with small boats.
[Illustration: Towing a Becalmed Frigate.
_From a picture drawn and engraved by Baugean._]
Finally, at 9.10 A.M., a light air was seen on the oil-smooth water in
the south. The yards of the _Constitution_ were at once braced sharp up
to meet it, and by the time its breath had filled the sails the willing
crew had the boats alongside and hoisted out of the water--some to
the davits where they belonged, and some lifted by spare spars, rigged
over the rail, just clear of the water, where they could be dropped the
instant they were needed.
But if the wind gave the sailors who had been on deck all night long
a brief chance to rest, it was after all of more advantage to the
enemy than to the _Constitution_. For she had had to change her course
when the breeze came, and that change was sending her closer to the
_Guerrière_, instead of further away. Worse yet, it seemed to the
Yankees that their sails had no more than rounded full under the caress
of the zephyr than it failed them again, and once more the canvas
rattled and slapped the creaking spars.
The _Guerrière_ now began firing, and there was nothing to do but once
more to stretch out the lines with the kedge anchor and begin anew the
tracking the _Constitution_ ahead. For an hour the weary men stretched
out their tow-line and hauled it in and stretched and hauled again.
Captain Hull had lightened the ship by starting nine or ten tons of
water, and the _Constitution_ was just beginning to show a fair gain
once more over the enemy when Captain Byron of the _Belvidera_ saw
how it was that the Yankees were clawing away, and adopted the same
tactics.
Immediately this was done the boats from the fleet flocked with men to
her deck to help haul in on the line--flocked there with men who were
fresh and strong from the decks of the other ships, while the men of
the _Constitution_ were worn with the loss of sleep the night before
and the fierce efforts of the morning.
By 2 o’clock in the afternoon these fresh men had drawn the _Belvidera_
so near that she opened fire, and, although the shots fell short,
Captain Hull now supposed he would surely be captured, and so prepared
to make a good fight with the first ship in hope of disabling her
before the rest could come to help. But the _Belvidera_, not wishing
to risk her anchor-carrying boats within range of the _Constitution’s_
guns, was content to claw forward on the Yankee’s quarter just out
of range, while the _Shannon_ and _Eolus_ strove to help partially
surround the _Constitution_ once more.
The _Belvidera_ began kedging at 10.30 o’clock in the morning. The
_Constitution_ had been at it for an hour already. Steadily the two
crews labored at the heart-breaking task until 3 o’clock in the
afternoon, when once more a zephyr from the south roughened the oily
waves and then lifted first the royals of the _Constitution_ and then
the top-gallant sails. The heavy canvas of top-sails and courses
would not swell to its weight, but the kites could pull her. It was
a fitful, varying breath, but it lasted four hours, and during that
time the Americans actually held the braces by which the sails were
trimmed constantly in hand, while the brave old captain kept his eyes
on the weather-vane and jockeyed her along as a racing skipper handles
his yacht. It was a race for a stake such as has never been known
on any coast, for it was a race for the life of a nation. Had _Old
Ironsides_ been captured while Rodgers was making his fruitless cruise,
and imbeciles were leading worthless militia in a day-dream scheme of
conquest toward Canada, the result would have been deadly.
As night came on (it was at 7 o’clock) this breeze failed once more.
It then lacked less than an hour of a full day since the men had been
called to quarters. For twenty-three hours they had stood at their
guns, had made and taken in and trimmed sail, had lowered and rowed
away and hoisted up boats, had carried out anchors and hauled on the
cables till they gasped for breath. It had been a day to wear the life
out of any ordinary man, but, as John Paul Jones said on the deck of
the _Bonhomme Richard_, these could say now: “We have not yet begun
to fight.” In spite of weariness, the instant the zephyr failed them
these men once more dropped the boats and carried out the small
anchors with the long lines and began again to claw their way clear
of the enemy. Until 10.45 P.M. they worked with steady patience, and
then another teasing zephyr came to fill the sails of the ship, and the
boats except one were all hoisted clear of the water. During all this
time the _Guerrière_ and the _Belvidera_ had fairly held their own,
being aided by the men from the other ships. The _Shannon_ had dropped
back a deal, but the _Eolus_ was not by any means far enough away to be
ignored. But when the breeze came, the _Belvidera_ got enough of the
flaws of air to forge ahead, so that soon after daylight (at 4 o’clock)
on the morning of July 19th she was well forward on the lee beam of
the _Constitution_, and, tacking about, she stood for the Yankee. If
the _Constitution_ held fast as she was the _Belvidera_ was sure to
pass within easy gunshot astern and deliver a raking fire that would
play havoc with spars and sails. If the _Constitution_ tacked also, the
_Eolus_, off on the Yankee’s weather-quarter, would have a chance of
forging within gunshot. The _Constitution_ was cornered and a choice
had to be made.
Going about at 4.20 A.M. on the other tack, Captain Hull headed across
the bows of the _Eolus_. He was now steering out to sea, and to the
joy of the Americans the sails swelled under a faint improvement in
the breeze. An hour later they were crossing ahead of the _Eolus_
within range of long guns, but the Englishman did not open fire and
the _Constitution_ passed free. The _Eolus_ when in the wake of the
_Constitution_ tacked, and then Captain Hull had the satisfaction of
seeing the enemy once more all astern of him. It was not that he was
out of danger. There were four frigates--the _Belvidera_, the _Eolus_,
the _Guerrière_, and the _Shannon_--all after him, but he had escaped
being surrounded. The line-of-battle-ship and the smaller craft had
been left so far astern as to be out of the race.
For several hours after this the race was without incident, though
so far as the eye could judge the _Constitution_ gained slightly in
the faint-air race, but at 9 o’clock a strange sail arrived within
plain view to the southward. She was evidently bound to New York.
To decoy her (for she looked like a Yankee) the _Belvidera_ hoisted
American colors, but Captain Hull stopped that game by hoisting the
British ensign, whereat the merchantman braced up and escaped, while
the _Constitution_ slipped along with every thread drawing and the
green water between her and the enemy slowly widening, until at noon
the nearest one was estimated to be three and a half miles astern. The
wide-beam, shoal-draft ship had the best of the race in a light air,
as others have since had in races of less importance near the same
ground.
[Illustration: Chase of the _Constitution_ off the Jersey Coast.
_From the painting by Inch at the Naval Academy, Annapolis._]
The crew were now, for the first time, able to get some rest. Officers
and men alike stretched out on deck and slept as men may who for
thirty-six hours have worked for life, but the brave old sailor who
commanded the ship stood to his post. Throughout the afternoon the lead
of the _Constitution_ was slightly increased, but at 4 o’clock the wind
began to weaken, to the disadvantage of the flying Yankee, for she ran
out of the breeze, and the enemy held it for a time after she lost it,
and so drew up until within perhaps three miles. There was nothing to
do now but get out all the boats to a tow-line, for the water was too
deep for kedging.
And then came the last and most stirring event of the long race.
A heavy cloud appeared away to southward and eastward, the first
sign of one of the black squalls with which American coasters are
over-familiar. A fearsome spectacle they are to the unaccustomed,
nor do they lack weight of wind at any time, but to the men of the
_Constitution_ this squall was a Godsend.
Knowing very well what the Englishmen would think of the looks of the
squall, Captain Hull kept his boats at their towing and sent the men
about deck to the belaying pins, where sheets and tacks and halyards
were made fast, while others stretched out clew-lines and bunt-lines,
and downhauls. Standing so with everything in hand, he watched the
coming cloud until the frothing spoondrift was within a mile, and
the first faint breath of it was lifting the royals, and then to the
shrill pipe of the boatswain called the boats alongside. As they were
hooking on the tackles the blast struck the ship. Over she heeled as
if to go on her beam ends, lifting the boats to windward clear of the
water, while the men at the halyards and sheets let go all, and all
hands clapped on to the clew-lines and downhauls and boat-tackles. In
a moment the last sail had been clewed into a bunt, and the boats to
windward and leeward were snatched to the davits and spars rigged to
receive them.
Turning then, to look at the enemy, he saw the men climbing aloft and
with eager haste _furling_ everything, while their boats were left
to shift as they might in the foaming sea. They had supposed from
what they saw of the effect of the squall on the _Constitution_ that
it was even worse than it looked, and they snugged down their ships
accordingly.
And then, as the friendly rain and vapor of the squall veiled the wily
Yankee, he spread his sails--sails that had not been furled--to the
gale and “went off on an easy bowline at the rate of eleven knots an
hour.”
The race was won. At 7.30 P.M., when the squall had passed and the
enemy once more came in view, the leading ship, the _Belvidera_, was
not only a long way astern, but she had the wind in such fashion as to
be unable to hold up within two points of the course the _Constitution_
was steering. And yet in their mad efforts to overhaul the Yankee after
they felt the weight of the squall, the British captains had cut adrift
their small boats, that they might not be obliged to stop and pick them
up or be encumbered with the weight.
The winds proved light and baffling all night, but having observed
how much better the sails held the air while they were wet, Captain
Hull started his force-pumps at work to keep the lower sails wet,
and sent men to the highest yards to draw up water in buckets and
keep everything drenched to the highest thread. It was a plan that
worked admirably. In spite of the baffling zephyrs, the Yankee gained
all night, so that at daylight only the loftier sails of the enemy
were visible, and at 8.15 on the morning of Monday, July 20, 1812,
the British squadron gave it up and squared away for Sandy Hook,
leaving the triumphant _Constitution_ to head away to Boston to
obtain another supply of water in place of that she had started to
decrease her draft. From Friday afternoon until Monday morning the
British frigates, including the swift _Belvidera_ that had eluded
the _President_, were in chase of the Yankee clipper. Certainly they
showed “great perseverance, good seamanship, and ready invitation,” but
“the cool old Yankee” justified the praise which Lord Nelson gave us
when he said, in the Mediterranean, that “there is in the handling of
those transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for the navy of Great
Britain.”
[Illustration: The _Constitution_ Bearing Down for the _Guerrière_.
_From an old wood-cut._]