When Captains Stewart and Bainbridge learned of this decision, they went to President Madison and his advisers and insisted that the American navy, weak as it was, should be given a chance of showing what it could do.

Consent was finally given, and then opened the wonderful career of our cruisers and privateers.
Among the frigates that had been built during our war with France was the _Constitution_, which carried 44 guns.

She earned the name of being one of the luckiest ships in the navy, and because of her astonishing record was named "Old Ironsides." The old hulk of this historical ship is still carefully preserved in remembrance of her brilliant record, which in some respects has never been equalled.
Sailors are superstitious, and the good name which the _Constitution_ gained made it easy to get all the seamen needed.

When you come to look into the matter you will find that the _Constitution_ was a lucky ship, because it was always officered by the best men we had, and they were wise enough to choose the finest crews.
The captain of the _Constitution_, when the war broke out, was Isaac Hull, a nephew of General William Hull, who made the cowardly surrender of Detroit.

He was born in Connecticut in 1773, and died in 1843.