I recently got to take a bit of time out of my schedule and go to see the USS Constitution in Boston. I was going to be in Boston for work early on a Monday so I flew up Sunday. This provided me an opportunity to take on a few sites in town.
I have been traveling to Boston for 20 years for work on and off, and surprisingly I have never been here. This was certainly a visit to make.
When you go here, the first thing you see is not the boat, but rather the museum. It is very interesting and talks about the history of this shipyard. It goes into detail on the refitting and the backstory of how she got her nickname “Old Iron Sides”. During her first battle, the crew of the other ship peppered her with cannon shots. The thick hull of the USS Constitution was so strong that the cannonballs bounced off of her hull. The crewmen f the other boat commented that they “bounced off as if the sides were made of iron.” The crew of the Constitution took such pride in this, it became her nickname and still is today.
In the museum, you learn about the captains of the ship and what it was like to be a sailor in those days. They even had a yardarm and sail setup that you could try out. I always assumed it would be pretty tricky standing on that line below the yard and working on the sails. I have seen the pictures of guys doing this so many times, I assumed that it would be hard at sea, but manageable in still waters. Well, this setup was only a foot or two off the ground and in a building. This was about as safe a test bed as there could be and it was a struggle when you had to go out far onto the yardarm where the lines were closer to the yard. It was fun to try either way.Once you get through the museum and the rope making factory, you actually go outside to get your first glimpse of the dry dock. This dry dock was constructed in the late 1800’s (forgive me I don’t recall the exact date) and has since been rebuilt. But it is massive and really pretty neat, it is like a giant stadium that has doors that open at the end. Once opened, you float your ship into the dock, close the doors and start pumping out the water. As the water pumps out, there are slides down the sides that can be adjusted to hold her upright. It is a very impressive setup. To think that they built the first one of these at the time when everything was manual. So the heavy granite blocks had to be placed there. Crazy to think of how they did this.
As you pass by the dry dock and make your way across the shipyard, you get your first view of Ironsides. She is massive. I inspected her bow to stern from the outside in awe of the size of the lines, the size of the rudder, and everything else. As I walked toward the stern I could see extensions or wings that were all ports for viewing out of. What an awesome vantage point. It was located about halfway between the deck and the water line and would provide a view forward along the length of the ship. Can you imagine watching her sail through seas or have a row of cannons firing and seeing it from there?
Once aboard, I checked out the deck. The masts and lines were all beyond comprehension from a size perspective. Below the top deck was several more. The first one had rows of cannons all rolled up and chained to the hull. Each one with its nose poking out like a mouse watching lookout into the room. Each cannon could be adjusted up or down for height as well as left and right for better aim. Again, these were massive and there so many of them. This was from bow to stern and on 2 different levels of the boat. 
The 2nd level down was where much of the crew stayed. In the large open area of the hold, were hammocks strung a couple of feet apart. This was the crew quarters. Days were long aboard a ship and while they seem like they may be uncomfortable, exhausted sailors slept immediately upon laying down. On the aft side of the boat, was an area that designated officers quarters. The ships store, medical and navigators all stayed back here. Each had a small stateroom with a minimal desk and hammock. There were places for the officers to eat their meals and access to the rudder control lines were here.All in all, it was a great visit to the Shipyard and I would recommend anyone going for this trip. It was inexpensive and very informative. What is cool about it, is that this is still an active Navy ship. This is an active Navy Shipyard and the people on the boat are active Navy members. It was great getting to talk to some of them that help maintains her and have even been able to sail on her.