The USS Constitution Returns to Boston, thanks to Congressman John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald

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The USS Constitution, lovingly referred to as 'Old Ironsides,' returned to Boston on the morning of September 21, 1897, a month before the 100th anniversary of her launch on October 21, 1797. The Boston Globe reported that the ship reached the Boston Lighthouse at 6:30 a.m., and "by 8:30 a.m. the Constitution was at her berth at the navy yard, where she was docked with some difficulty owing to the wind, which was blowing off the pier."

The Globe continued, "Now that the Constitution is at the navy yard, the public may see all of her they care to, as she will be open to visitors after today. Already there are hundreds ready to visit her from the immediate vicinity of the navy yard. No ship ever came into port that aroused so much patriotic interest as she. Every schoolboy knows her history."

The legendary ship's 83-year career included 33 captures during the War of 1812 and voyages around the world, according to historian Margherita Desy of the USS Constitution Museum.   The ship had been been put out of commission in 1882 and was berthed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

As the 1897 centenary of the USS Constitution approached, U.S. Congressman John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald of Boston's North End decided to get involved, by advocating that the legendary ship be moved to Washington DC and turned into a national monument.   Fitzgerald gave several impassioned speeches at the US Capitol, and even recited the famous poem, Old Ironsides, by Oliver Wendell Holmes.  Congress ended up appropriating earlier funds "for such work as may be necessary for the proper care and preservation of that historic vessel."


Congressman John Fitzgerald

But the idea of moving it to Washington DC took a sudden turn when Fitzgerald's constituents strongly advocated that the USS Constitution belonged in Boston.   The Mass Historical Society joined other prominent institutions and leaders who wanted the ship to remain in Boston, "where she was built, and from which port she sailed on all her victorious cruises.” 

"Congressman Fitzgerald, wrote the Globe, "strengthened his argument by pointing out that Boston has more objects of historical interest than any other American city, and is visited yearly by thousands of persons who come to look at those reminders of great deeds of times gone by."



U S S CONSTITUTION, WOODEN FRIGATE - Launched in Boston, October 21, 1797. Cost, ready for sea, $302,719. Length 175 feet; beam 45 feet; draft 20 feet; displacement 2200 tons. Once she logged 13 knots. Crew, a mile and a half.  She carries no guns 400 men. Original armament, 32 24-pounders, 20 32-pounder carronades. now. Weight of metal in one discharge of all.

Fitzgerald, who was the grandfather of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was a state senator, a U.S. Congressman, and the first Irish-American to serve as mayor of Boston. He was also a successful businessman and the publisher of the weekly Boston newspaper, the Republican. 

A plaque to Fitzgerald is in Boston's North End, part of the city's Irish Heritage Trail. 



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