The Constitution, a famous sailing ship, looks like this today.
A SHIP SAVED BY A POEM
“Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunder shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;”
This is part of a famous poem written by a famous American writer,
Oliver Wendell Holmes. The poem is “Old Ironsides,” and it saved a
famous ship, the Constitution, from being junked.
The Constitution was a sailing ship with three masts. It was used by
the United States Navy in the 1800’s. It got its nickname “Old
Ironsides” during a battle with an English warship during the War of
1812. Shots from British guns seemed to bounce off the sides of the
Constitution as though the ship had sides made of iron.
After many battles, the government decided that the ship was no longer
seaworthy and wanted to destroy it. Then Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his
famous poem. The people of the United States became aroused and didn’t
want the ship destroyed. So the government rebuilt it and restored it.
Thousands of people visit the Constitution every year in the Boston
Navy Yard.
This painting shows how the Constitution looked when the ship was in
full sail.
