USS Constitution once again began refitting in 1847 for duty with the Mediterranean Squadron. The controversial figurehead of Andrew Jackson that was subsequently severed by Boston protesters fifteen years previous was now replaced with another Jackson figurehead, this time with a more Napoleonic pose. The new captain of USS Constitution was Captain John Gwinn, who helmed her on her new voyage. With Daniel Smith McCauley and his family in tow, USS Constitution departed on December 9, 1848, and arrived in Tripoli on January 19, 1849. While in route to Egypt, McCauley’s wife gave birth to a son that the family then named Constitution Stewart McCauley. August 1st marked a momentous occasion, when King Ferdinand II and Pope Pius IX boarded USS Constitution at Gaeta, marking the first time a Pope had personally set foot onto American territory. However, a month later marked a darker time in history, when Captain John Gwinn died of chronic gastritis on September 1st at Palermo. He was given a burial near Lazeretto on the 9th. Gwinn’s successor to Captain of USS Constitution was Captain Thomas Conover, who took command on the 18th, and resumed the routine patrol of USS Constitution for the remainder of the tour. Routine until USS Constitution and the English brig Confidence collided on the first of December in 1850, causing the Confidence to lose its Captain. The rest of the English crew were taken aboard USS Constitution and taken back to America by January 1851, where the USS Constitution would remain in ordinary at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
USS Constitution was soon recommissioned on December 22, 1852, with John Rudd as its commander. USS Constitution made sail with Commodore Isaac Mayo for duty with the African Squadron, departing on March 2, 1853, and arriving June 18th. On a diplomatic visit to Liberia, Mayo coaxed the Brabo and Grebo tribes into a treaty by firing cannons into the village of the Barbo until they agreed to the treaty. This is seen as the last time that USS Constitution let her cannons off in an act of aggression, and USS Constitution’s last capture would follow shortly after. November 3rd, near Angola, USS Constitution captured the American ship H.N. Gambrill, which was a suspected slave trader ship, and took her as a prize. Mayo once again pressured another peace treaty between the Grahway and Half Cavally tribes on June 22, 1854. Afterwards, her tour took a turn for the uneventful, and she sailed home on March 31, 1855. However, she became rerouted to Cuba for a short time from May 16th to the 24th. Finally, USS Constitution arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard, and was decommissioned on June 14th, putting an end to her days on the front lines of duty.
Related posts:
