Pinned post for Q&A :)

As a former educator at the USS Constitution Museum, I find this presentation excellent. Many important little details about the battle that are often glossed over or forgotten are nicely brought up here, showing that while Capt. Dacre and HMS Guerriere were outmatched by Capt. Hull and USS Constitution, Dacre *knew* that and took proper steps to try and make the best of a bad situation. He simply had the misfortune that Joshua Humphreys (The designer and builder of Constitution) had created a ship that was nearly immune to long range fire. Also, an interesting side note that few folks would know: one of the American fatalities in the battle was actually (and likely accidentally) self inflicted. As part of a task I was given while working at the Museum, I ended up going through the ship's entire medical records from 1797 to 1858. One account made it clear that this unfortunate sailor was putting a powder charge into a 24 lber long gun (probably during the time of close range broadside action). In his eagerness to keep the gun firing quickly he did so before it had been swabbed and the charge detonated in the barrel while his head was still in front of the bore. Poor man had his head blasted clean off his shoulders and out the gun port - possibly striking the Guerriere as a rather macabre projectile.

I love the intro. It's rare that Drach makes videos about ships. Hope he makes more naval videos in the future.

I recall reading in one book that Capt Dacre was very impressed by the curtesy that he was shown by Captain Hull and the Americans, up to and including the retrieving of his Bible, which had been passed down on his mothers side of the family. Also when he was brought abord Dacre tried to surrender his sword and Hull wouldn't hear of it. He also made his own surgeon available to help to tend to British casualties. Hull and Dacre being lifelong friends after the war and traded letters for many years.

You have to love Drachinifel's hat tip to Teddy Roosevelt. Compared to the standards set by him most modern presidents are pretty much only suitable to be his toilet paper. He won the Medal of Honor and the Nobel Peace Prize (legitimately I think). He wrote a number of books that I believe are still considered worth reading. And *after* he was finished as President he went on a trip up the Amazon river, which was still fairly dangerous in those days. That was how he relaxed after the stresses of being President. And he wrote a book about that too.

Supposedly, Hull was so overjoyed when the Guerriere ("Warrior") hauled down her colors he danced a jig so energetically, he split the seat of his trousers. He also gained Dacre's dress hat as the later had boasted that he would bet his hat he could defeat an American vessel.

I always got the feeling that US captains in 1812 were more like claymore mines, or Viking berserkers, just point them in the general direction of the enemy and stand back, lest you get cought up in the chaos. Barring obviously overwhelming odds US frigates seemed frightfully happy to give action.

Old Ironsides is really something. Boston's only undefeated team!

50 years ago I came across a a book in the school library that covered the exploits of USS Constitution during the war of 1812, and it not only hooked me into a lifelong love of naval history but of history in general. I'm very pleased that you plan a series of videos covering the naval engagements of this war. Thanks Drach!

I watched this video today in a hotel room with a print of the USS constitution on the wall, then went to see the boat. 10/10 good boat.

As of about 30 years ago, Constitution's sea anchor from the slow-motion kedging race with the British squadron was preserved at the US Naval Academy museum in Annapolis, Maryland. It's probably still there. Kedging is the process of moving the umbrella-like sea anchor some distance forward of the ship in a boat, dropping it, and then getting a few dozen men on the ship's capstan to winch in the line. Repeat until the wind comes back or you've moved a sufficient distance.

Do not forget the HMS Endymion, HMS Shannon and HMS Phoebe that in turn defeated the USS President USS Chesapeake and USS Essex. The R/N always had a go regardless of the disparity in size

I'm going to love this series. When I was growing up, I read a book about Old Ironsides that, IIRC, was written for boys, and was very inspired by it. Later when I visited Annapolis and then Constitution herself, I had a deeper perspective of what I was seeing. Sadly, I'm not sure how many younger Americans (or of any age for that matter) are aware of this ship and its relevance to US history, but anyone who enjoys films like Master and Commander, pirate stories, Hornblower books, etc., would probably love to know the real stories about age of sail warfare.

I'm not sure that it was present at this battle, but at times, Constitution mounted "Chambers guns" in her fighting tops. This was a muzzle loading multi barrel flintlock that fired a 2 minute burst of over 200 shots on one trigger pull. Forgotten weapons has a video of one in a Dutch museum.

In addition to this 1812 series, I'd love to see your coverage of the USS Constellation's career fighting in the Quasi War against the French.

At 13-20, the Constitution is flying the wrong flag, the 13 stars in a circle of the War of Independence. By 1812, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio had joined the Union and the flag had 15 stars in a rectangular pattern and 15 stripes (which would later revert to 13). Yes, it's a small thing, but it is not up to the attention to detail we expect of Drach. Twelve lashes at the gangway !

This battle, while like all battles being horrific, is also very comedic.

I grew up in Erie Pennsylvania (now live near Gettysburg), visiting Misery Bay, the Perry Monument and Put-in-Bay Ohio. I can hardly wait for Drach’s take on the Battle of Lake Erie!

The invasion of Canada is a fascinating episode. America was determined to march north and liberate the poor Canadians from the chafing yoke of monarchical tyranny. Unfortunately, nobody had asked the Canadians about this plan, so it was only when the Army got there that they discovered the Canadians weren’t particularly troubled by living under the chafing yoke of monarchical tyranny and had no real desire to be liberated. However, they were very troubled by their southern neighbor showing up in their colony uninvited, and so went about removing the offending Americans in a way that made certain that they wouldn’t return unless invited.

Theodore Roosevelt did a great job of describing this battle by quoting reliable sources, very glad you referenced his book. You're videos is simply outstanding, and I have no idea why you don't have more subscribers.

My favourite book about this war and its naval actions is The Age of Fighting Sail, by C.S. Forester. In fact, it's one of my favourite books, period. Can hardly wait for the next video. Many thanks, Drachinifel!

I so loved visiting the Constitution when I was a kid. Next best thing to a time machine and I remember one of the crew being very patient with me.

A neat bit of trivia is that the 1790 Mess Gong from the USS Constitution is on display at the White House Mess.

I first visited the USS Constitution when I was about 8 years old in 1967. I was so very impressed that I immediately became a long time fan of the ship, and still am to this day. I am overjoyed that she has been overhauled to the point that she can still work under sail at least once a year. I have always imagined the battles of this class of 44 gun frigates with the standard British 38 gun frigates comparable with the 19th century version of a pocket battleship engaging a heavy frigate in 20th century terms. After all, the Constitution class all had the scantlings and main deck guns of a British 74 gun 3rd rate along with a large number of 32 lb. Carronades. Her weight of fire was considerably higher than poor Guerrier's. Captain Dacres and his crew did all that honor and bravery could in the face of such a disparity in firepower and hull strength. I have always been in awe of the bravery of the British in such encounters. The American crews were a different kettle of fish compared to the French or Spanish enemies they had been facing up until then. Of course the disparity in numbers would have eventually neutralized the American blue water fleet. Blockade would ultimately prevent the American frigates from making it to sea in any numbers. Then there is the famous Chesapeake vs Shannon fight, but that's another story I hope will be covered in future. Love the work you are doing Drach!

Well done, looking forward to the continuation of this series.

This channel has sure evolved from a robotic voice channel featuring brief summaries of famous ships.

This particular event is one of my favorite engagements in US Naval history. I grew up on the song and the stories in the Time Life book series which includes a whole volume on "The Frigates" which is a very well illustrated book specifically interested in the early US Frigates. The book goes into some of the unique training and techniques used by the American gunners which made for faster rates of more accurate fire on their heavier 24 lber guns. It's fascinating reading.

Drach, Thank you for this very detailed summary of the battle. Having fought this battle many times with "Wooden Ships and Iron Men"" and other miniature rules, it is usually a quick affair of Constitution demasting Guerriere and then raking her a couple of times. Sounds like it was a much closer affair than often advertised.

USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere sounds like a naval version of Rock Paper Scissors. In this case, Paper Covers Cheese. Great video, and great topic, Drach!

I look forward to this series. I seem to recall that in a battle on the Great Lakes, a Captain had such favorable conditions that he was able to fire a broadside, then back up, reload and fire again rather than tack or wear. I cannot remember which Navy no ship though.

There have been several board games done over the past 50 years attempting to play our the various Frigate actions of the War of 1812. I have and most of them and have played most of them.

Don't know if anyone remembers Age of Sail 2, but Constitution was one of the ships featured. It's a very nippy ship in that game, with quite a punch. Interesting to see she was doing such sharp turns because I found that to be very effective, particularly against slower ships. Bit rough on the rudder, perhaps. .

I got my Kamchatka shirt from Drach’s Dockyard yesterday. It is wonderfully soft and has a good remembrance of my favorite KZfaq videos. Now if you can find an artist who can draw Rozhestvensky cursing and throwing binoculars at Kamchatka….

Another great vid, well done Dracs. What a fabulous ship Constitution is, I've never seen inside her before so thank you for this. Frigates, a grand subject, the first frigate action I painted years astern was Maidstone and Lion, it's still admired and on my website somewhere. More recently 'my' frigates have included a couple of Type 23's but that's not quite what you have in mind is it !!! Which reminds me, I researched HMS Shannon intending to create a painting. It'll have to wait a bit as at present I'm busy with paintings is Surcoff, the most famous French corsair, taking the Kent and the Golden Hind taking her most valuable prize, both good strong stories. I am planning a visit to England at the end of April, if you are about it would be a pleasure to meet again.

As a historian, I have been waiting for Drach to post this battle ever since I stumbled onto his channel. I read about this battle when I was kid reading the Time Life Series "The Seafarers" when I was 9 years old. That was 30 plus years ago. I read Theodore Roosevelt's book on Kindle. I soaked up all the information like a sponge. I won't go into all the technical details about the different ships and how the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere stacked out against each other. Other people like Drach can do that. What I want to see is the reenactments and mockups.

YES! More frigate duels! You should cover the moonlight battle.

If you are in Boston, visit the Constitution and the Fletcher class DD Cassin Young (DD 793).

Good premise for a series Drach - looking forward to more of these.

So excited for this mini-series!

Love this series already, keep up the great work drach

Great video, I really appreciate the models used to demonstrate the movements of the ships

Four US Navy destroyers have been named for Hull: DD-7: Hopkins class, DD-330: Clemson class, DD-350: Farragut class, and DD-945: Forrest Sherman class.

@Drachinifel I love the use of the beautiful models to show the relative positions of the ships! Who makes that ocean "game matt"? It's gorgeous! Next time, you should put down some "cotton balls" to mimic smoke. 🤣

Dacre was 24-years-old in 1812. Father was an admiral. You have to be pretty well-contacted to get a command at that age.

Very well done, excellent clip. Professional job..

Merry Christmas and thanks for all your work during the year. Currently enjoying Boxing Day here.

Thank you, merry Christmas

Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas to you and your family 😅

Thank you for the excellent video! I remember reading about this engagement but it was a history book written for young people and didn't have a lot of detail about the battle. The description of the fight, in particular the early battle of maneuver and long-range gunnery exchange was all new to me. I am greatly looking forward to the follow-on installments!

Superb presentation. Thank you.

Another great video! One of these days you should do a video on the frigate battles of the war of Spanish succession. That would be epic!

VERY, VERY NICE ! ! I'm truly going to like these ! 😎👍

I appreciate that you added a chapter break for the change from sponsor to subject

Great video!!

Great work. Interesting video.

Fascinating. Thank you

What good timing. I just finished a book about the US Navy in the War of 1812, and here come these videos.

Thanks Drach.

Thank You Drach!! My reading of this engagment as a 10 year old in the late 60s started me on my path to a lifetime of the study of history, particularly Naval History. I was fascinated by the Constitution. Followed up with the study of HMS Java encounter Had the boar game "Broadside". I got so into it. Dragged my parents to Boston to see her. Went to UK and dragged them to Portsmouth to see HMS Victory. Seeing this video makes this a special Christmas Present!!! Thanks and Salut.

I love this! Thank you!

A great description of the Battle, i have visited her and the Constlation in Baltimore. I'm always impressed with the Wooden Ships and the Iron Men who sailed them

Another series to look forward too

I enjoy these sail age stories very much

Excellent!

Thanks Drach

Ah Master and Commander eat your heart out. LOL You did a nice job on this story about my favorite ship (other than the one I was on).

Love this series, Drach! @13:41, a better man than the captain of HMS Macedonian

Please do more of these

Thanks for explaining about »battle sail«, even if it wasn’t specifically about my question from some videos earlier.

This was wonderful! Like most Americans, I presume, I've known of the battle between the Constitution and Guerriere for most of my life. BUT, this is the first time I've really learned the details of the battle and how it was actually not only possible that the Constitution could have lost, but a shift in wind or fortune could have given the Guerriere a resounding victory. Fascinating!

I'm looking forward to this "series". Thanks.

Loved the video. One thing occurred to me after watching it. other than the morale issue, I would think the Admiralty would be satisfied at the trade-off of one old, well-used frigate if it "mission-killed" a dangerous commerce raider before it could inflict much damage.

Actually I'd like to preempt a question for the Shannon/Chesapeake action. I've seen artwork and scale models where both ships appear to be sporting the same paint scheme. That of a buff or white pinstripe beneath the gun ports. Nowadays we most commonly expect to see the band along the gun ports a la the Nelson Chequer. Was this pinstripe scheme common? Were either the Shannon or Chesapeake sporting it as a ruse or did they both happen to have it by pure happenstance?

Love is time of Navel history. Growing up my local Game Store would run demo tabletop games every Saturday. One of them was Wooden Ships and Iron Men. I still remember commanding HMS Hawke as part of a British line vs the French and Spanish.

Colonel Roosevelt, as he then was titled, wrote the 1812 section of Clowes's seven volume history of the Royal Navy, so was clearly recognized as the leading authority on that war at the time.

BZ and Happy Holidays.

Love this video and hoping we will get HMS Shannon and USS Chesapeake in the future

I was in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts yesterday and I stumbled upon two paintings by Thomas Birch. One of the battle between the USS Constitution and the Guerriere. The other of the battle between the United States and the Macedonian. They are both beautiful paintings. It was very cool because I had watched this video literally the day before.

These frigate duels having focussed the Royal Navy's attention, our ancestor & his Yankee Doodle privateer colleagues made a "pile of tin". Thankyou very much!

The Ships might have been becalmed but I’m sure the Crew of the Constitution was a bundle of nerves

Well, in order to trying to disturb the US ships, the Royal Navy used ships with French name but prefixed by HMS 🤣 Another great video! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Very talented KZfaq person 🎉

I love the art showing square-rigged vessels at a broad reach. Points of sail are a very real thing for sailing ships but artists so often only show the wind at their back

Great video. I live in Ohio about an hour away from Lake Erie where a very important battle in the war of 1812 took place. Commadore Perry defeated the British off South Bass Island to end the war of 1812. I hope someday you would report about those ships?

Excellent work as usual. Now to all Drach's followers: Come fill your glasses full and let's drink to Captain Hull (To Hull!) And pass around the flagon of the brandy-o! John Bull can boast his fill, Let the world think what it will. For fighting oh those Yankee boys are dandy-o.

Drach- Excellent topic. Question for you: Are there any instances in which the Captains of frigates (or any vessels) duelled each other? Was this common or an issue for the RN or other navies during the Age of Sail when duelling was more commons?

The clear winner here was the Live Oak used in the heavy US frigates. Drach should know that. I love Drach, but I’m still at loggerheads with him over John Paul Jones. I think Drach thinks he was a scoundrel. So was Sir Francis Drake. But, anyway, Flameboroughead (sp.) was a mini Pearl Harbor. And so what if the scoundrels within Jones’s own squadron was shooting at the Bonhomme Richard? He was also shooting at Serapis. Sort of off topic, but Drach is a big enough person to multitask

great article keep up the good work, Bravo Zulu

A man who does 6 hour dry dock vids is concerned about going long.

Thanks for the video. The models make the movements of the engagement clearer than any diagram I have ever seen in a book. It is somewhat questionable if Guerriere would have been a useful addition to the USN. The frigate John Adams spent most of the war laid up due to lack of crewmen and material, and Congress was laid up at the end of 1813 for the same reasons.

One small suggestion, if I may. The dioramas depicting the positions and maneuvers of the action would be even more informative if there were an arrow or other indicator of the wind direction. We want to know who has the weather gage.

Great presentations Drach, got anything on the original USS Constellation ?

Guerriere's "howitzer" was likely a gun stationed in her one of boats, the barge or launch.

OK? you made me cry three times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recall a story where as a teacher penned the question, "when was the war of 1812?" Half the class got it wrong.

I'm paused at the 10:38 mark and have to share two thoughts that I love about this developing battle situation. Firstly, I love the fact that the US Navy, from it's infancy, basically adopted the methodology that becomes the halmark of the US Military 200 years later. "Right, lads... in a war against pretty much anyone, we're going to be outnumbered, but by God we shall never be out gunned! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Thus began the traditional American way of war. If in doubt, add more firepower. Secondly, I love that the captain of Guerriere is like, "Right, I've seen this ship before and she's a tough old bird that is stronger than our own ship. I'm quite confident that in a straight up fight, we'll beat her, and I'm quite happy that the Americans seem to be attacking. I've got them right where I want them." Very Age of Sail British Navy of him.

might have slipped my ears but USS may have had carronades at the time on the top. I visited them. It was as a way to add more dakka

I'm always astounded at these British versus American battles. They just pounded the snot out of each other. Faster and higher casualty battles than typically took place between the British and other European powers. Both sides were convinced they were going to win.

I regret not visiting the USS Constitution when I had the chance.

HEY !!--I THOUGHT "GUERRIERE"-WAS A "FANCY FRENCH" CHEESE"-THAT CAME IN A "BOX"-???