The Constitution and the Guerriere
On this afternoon two months into the War of 1812, the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere met 400 miles southeast of Nova Scotia. The ships were each captained by well-seasoned veterans: the Consitution by Isaac Hull and the Guerriere by James Richard Dacres. (Dacres, incidentally, joined the Navy at age eight, while Hull waited until fourteen.)
The larger guns and thicker hull of the Constitution favored her in the initial combat, during which the Guerriere’s mizzen mast was brought down. The mast dragged like a rudder, allowing the Constitution to cross in front and fire raking shots, damaging the main and foremasts as well. After a period of musket-fire, the Constitution gathered for repairs before returning to finish the battle. The lack of masts proved problematic for raising the white flag of surrender aboard the Guerriere, which finally fired a cannon shot away from the Constitution to signal defeat.
As the captains met, Hull refused the customary surrender of Dacres’s sword, but did accept his hat to settle a prior wager over whose was the better ship. Hull even ordered the retrieval of Dacres’s mother’s bible before the Guerriere was sunk. Dacres was honourably acquitted for the loss by a military tribunal, arguing that the crew had done their best, the deficient ship was French-built, and the mizzen mast was rotting and needed to be replaced anyway. The American victory is celebrated in the song The Constitution and Guerrière.
