Constitution shatters Guerriere off Nova Scotia; Dacres strikes his colors
Two months into a war Americans were already losing on land, Captain Isaac Hull took the frigate USS Constitution hunting British merchant traffic off Halifax. On August 19, 1812, he found HMS Guerriere instead. Constitution crossed her bow and raked her decks, then brought down her masts one by one until Captain James Richard Dacres struck his colors. A crewman watching British shot bounce harmlessly off the hull shouted that her sides were made of iron.
The land war against Canada had already stalled and public support was cracking when word of the victory reached American ports. A single frigate duel, against a Royal Navy that outnumbered the U.S. Navy nearly four to one in American waters, turned into the morale story of the war, and Americans kept the ship around for the next two centuries. Constitution is still a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel today.
