Home from Plymouth came the Constitution and got herself put in shape for the war that was soon to come. It had not long begun before she was off to sea; and now she had a remarkable adventure with the Guerriere and some other British ships. In fact, she made a wonderful escape from a whole squadron of war vessels. She left the Chesapeake on July 12, 1812, and for five days sailed up the coast. The winds were light and progress was very slow. Then, on the 17th, the lookout aloft saw four warships sailing along close in to the Jersey coast.
Two hours afterward another was seen. This proved to be the frigate Guerriere, and it was soon found that the others were British ships also. One of them was a great ship-of-the-line. It would have been madness to think of fighting such a force as this, more than six times as strong as the Constitution, and there was nothing to do but to run away.
Then began the most famous race in American naval history. There was hardly a breath of wind, the sails hung flapping to the masts; so Captain Hull got out his boats and sent them ahead with a line to tow the ship. When the British saw this they did the same, and by putting all their boats to two ships they got ahead faster.
I cannot tell the whole story of this race, but it lasted for nearly three days, from Friday afternoon till Monday morning. Now there was a light breeze and now a dead calm. Now they pulled the ships by boats and now by kedging. That is, an anchor was carried out a long way ahead and let sink, and then the men pulled on the line until the ship was brought up over it. Then the anchor would be drawn up and carried and dropped ahead again.
For two long days and nights the chase kept up, during which the Constitution was kept, by weary labor, just out of gunshot ahead. At four o'clock Sunday morning the British ships had got on both sides of the Constitution, and it looked as if she was in a tight corner. But Captain Hull now turned and steered out to sea, across the bows of the Eolus, and soon had them astern again.
The same old game went on until four o'clock in the afternoon, when they saw signs of a coming squall. Captain Hull knew how to deal with an American squall, but the Englishmen did not. He kept his men towing until he saw the sea ruffled by the wind about a mile away. Then he called the boats in and in a moment let fall all his sails.
Looking at the British, he saw them hard at work furling their sails. They had let all their boats go adrift. But Captain Hull had not furled a sail, and the minute a vapor hid his ship from the enemy all his sails were spread to the winds and away went the Yankee ship in rapid flight. He had taught his foes a lesson in American seamanship.
When the squall cleared away the British ships were far astern. But the wind fell again and all that night the chase kept up. Captain Hull threw water on his sails and made every rag of canvas draw. When daylight came only the top sails of the enemy could be seen. At eight o'clock they gave up the chase and turned on their heels. Thus ended that wonderful three days chase, one of the most remarkable in naval history.
And now we come to the greatest story in the history of the "Old Ironsides." In less than a month after the Guerriere had helped to chase her off the Jersey coast, she gave that proud ship a lesson which the British nation did not soon forget. Here is the story of that famous fight, by which Captain Hull won high fame:
In the early morning of August 19, while the old ship was bowling along easily off the New England coast, a cheery cry of "Sail-ho!" came from the lookout at the mast-head.