Save “Old Ironsides”
“USS Constitution Escaping From the British – July 1812
The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Constructed in Boston in 1797, she was a unique item of war and fit a niche discovered by her designer, Joshua Humphreys. He realized that, for a long time, our navy would be inferior in numbers to the navies of Europe, so we needed to make our few ships as formidable as possible.
Now a frigate was a fifth-rate ship out of the six rates of ship. It was a comparatively small ship. But Humphreys’ frigates were unique in that they were bigger than other frigates. And they were also faster, because he gave them a more streamlined hull. The hull was made of American Oak rather than English Oak, which turned out to be denser. When the ship was being constructed, Humphrey’s knew it would take a pounding so he put ribs on the sides of the ship just four inches apart….on other ships these ribs were 8 to 10 inches apart.
It was 1830, the Age of Sail was waning, and the Age of Steam was getting under way. The Navy was just letting the old sailing ships deteriorate. An unknown 22-year-old law student named Oliver Wendell Holmes published a poem about the Constitution’s fate in a Boston newspaper.
Old Ironsides Poem
AY TEAR her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon’s roar;
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck once red with heroes’ blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o’er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor’s tread,
Or know the conquered knee;
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
The second stanza ended with the words, “The harpies of the shore shall pluck / The eagle of the sea!” Newspapers around the country picked up the poem. It was the beginning of the nation’s interest in saving the ship.
A prominent Massachusetts Elk learned of the ship’s gloomy fate as it listed forlornly at the Boston Navy Yard docks. With the resources of the Order of Elks, the funding for repair could easily have been generated from within our ranks, but in our wisdom we saw that more was in need of repair than just the physical deterioration. Pledging the Order’s support to stop any dismantling before it could begin, the Elks commenced a program throughout America’s small towns and bustling metropolises that called on millions of our nation’s children to show their reverence for this unique defender of liberty and her brave crewmen.
Through a network in 1,400 Lodges and dozens of radio broadcasts, collection drives, dramatic programs and essay contests were carried out during the month of October, 1925, and the precious pennies, nickels and dimes of millions of American children poured in. Of course, there was no way to prevent adult patriots from doing their part in such a noble cause, and it is understandable that the bulk of the $537,000 needed came from them. Yet, as the Elks had anticipated, $136,436.79 came from the renewed love and pride in countless young hearts, and purchased for them a stronger sense of participation and dedication that would become evident as these children grew into the men and women who built and defended America in the tumultuous decades that followed.
We think this pin was sold in 1925 to help the cause, or given with a donation to help save her.
Save “Old Ironsides” 1925