How did the Constitution get the nickname “Old Ironsides”?
It was in the great naval battle where the Constitution captured the British ship Guerriere. A sailor on the Guerriere saw 18-pound British cannonballs bouncing right off the hull of the Constitution. He exclaimed, “Huzza, her sides are made of iron!” But they weren’t made of iron. They were made of oak. What made the hull so impenetrable? For one thing, it turns out that American oak is denser than English oak. That wasn’t realized at the time. But there was another factor as well. When Humphreys constructed the Constitution, he knew she was going to take a lot of pounding. So he put the ribs on the sides of the ship only four inches apart. On conventional warships, the ribs were eight to ten inches apart. Humphreys’ frigates were big, fast, and strong. The British had nothing like them. How did the Constitution get her other nickname—”Eagle of the Sea”? That comes from the next phase of her story—the story of the effort to save her. It was 1830. The Age of Sail was waning, and the Ag
