Old Ironsides

Quick answer: How did USS Constitution get the name Old Ironsides?

On August 19, 1812, as British cannonballs struck USS Constitution during her fight with HMS Guerriere and fell into the sea, a sailor shouted that her sides were made of iron. They weren't; she was framed in dense southern live oak, in places nearly two feet thick. The name stuck.

On August 19, 1812, several hundred miles east of Boston, the frigate Constitution ran down the British frigate Guerriere, and Captain Isaac Hull did the hardest thing first. He held his fire. British iron struck his ship and men fell on his deck, but he steered into point-blank range so his first broadside couldn't miss. When the hulls nearly touched, the Constitution let go with everything down one side. Then British shot started bouncing off her hull into the sea, and a sailor shouted that her sides were made of iron. They were southern live oak, close to two feet thick in places, coppered with metal from Paul Revere's works. In under half an hour the Guerriere was a dismasted wreck. John's point is about what carries a discouraged country through a low stretch. It isn't a promise that things will be fine. It's proof, somebody doing a hard thing well against the odds. That's what Heroes' Path is for: keeping the proof, so we can lay a hand on the oak.

Why it matters for leaders: In a discouraging season, people need proof more than slogans, and proof only comes from someone doing the hard thing well.

Q: Why did Captain Isaac Hull hold his fire?

A: He steered to point-blank range so his first broadside couldn't miss, accepting losses on the way rather than wasting fire at a distance.

Q: What was the outcome?

A: In under half an hour Guerriere was a dismasted hulk; Hull lost seven men, the British nearly a hundred dead and wounded.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/old-ironsides

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation