Secrets Behind The USS Constitution

From All That Is Interesting.com (Nov. 11):

During the War of 1812, the United States’ small and relatively new navy was taking a major beating at the hands of the powerful British. The U.S. needed a victory, and the USS Constitution would help provide one.

In August 1812, she met head on with Britain’s HMS Guerriere and astonished sailors on both sides with her resilience. When British cannonballs bounced off the Constitution’s hull, one British sailor was said to have exclaimed “Her sides are made of iron!” From there, it was more wartime heroics, battles with pirates, and the most venerated career of any U.S. warship.

Here are some of the secrets:

1. The USS Constitution has never been defeated in battle.
2. The first US Marine Corps officer to die in combat, Lt. William Bush, was killed on the USS Constitution in a battle with the HMS Guerriere.
3. The ship’s copper fastenings were constructed by Paul Revere himself!
4. The USS Constitution first launched in 1797, making her the world’s oldest commissioned warship.
5. She’s actually made of wood—the original trees making up the Constitution’s frame were chopped down in 1795. It took more than 1,500 of them.
6. The USS Constitution is 204-feet-long, 43-feet-wide and has a 21-inch-thick hull.
7. Many people to believe the USS Constitution to be haunted.
8. One of the ghosts said to haunt her is that of the unfortunate Neil Harvey, who fell asleep on watch in the 1880s. Commodore Thomas Truxton had him stabbed in the gut, tied over a canon, and blown to pieces.*
9. Another popular ghost story claims that a 24-pound cannonball once rolled across the deck while the ship was completely still.
10. The last night watchman of the USS Constitution was replaced by an alarm system in 1963. His spirit allegedly plays cards on the lower deck today, and gave a tour of the ship to a priest.

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*What a way to die! I guess that is what happens when you fall asleep during your duty. He won’t be doing that again!