Towards the end of our week in Boston, we toured the
USS Constitution. This is a "wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy", with an absolutely incredible history. The
Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. She was named by President George Washington, fought in the War of 1812 against Great Britain, and is affectionately nicknamed "Old Ironsides". How old
is she, you ask? Only 215 years!
Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907 and in 1934 she completed a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation. Constitution sailed under her own power for her 200th birthday in 1997, and again in August 2012, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere.
Constitution's stated mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs, and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. (Wikipedia)
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| USS Constitution |
After going through security and looking around the museum for a while, we joined a group tour of the Constitution given a US Navy sailor. He told us about the ship's history in wartime, and also provided lots of anecdotes about life on board the ship both in the past and in the present day.
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Bilge pumps that pumped water onto the wooden floor
in order to stop it burning while they fired cannons |
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Sleeping quarters - the ceiling was so low that even I had
to duck under the crossbeams! |
This is another navy ship,
USS Cassin Young, that was in the same shipyard:
And here are a few other photos from our time in Boston that didn't fit in any other blog post:
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| Kids playing croquet on Columbus Day |
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| Deep-fried cheesecake (just to say we've had it!) |
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| Boston Common |
And a nice dinner at
Chez Henri on our last night in Boston...
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| Lobster |
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| Duck |
And that was our week in Boston!
4 comments:
What did the deep-fried cheesecake actually taste like???
Yeah, I was going to ask what the cheesecake tasted like too. It seems like a waste of good cheesecake! :)
Loving your Boston posts. I think it's the place I've most wanted to visit in America, that you've blogged about! :-) It looks beautiful and very very interesting!
I was curious about the cheesecake too. I'm guessing maybe it wasn't all that wonderful, or you would have said so?! :-)
Sonya xo
Thanks for your comments - glad people are still checking the blog despite such long gaps between blog posts at the moment!! Life is very busy here, but should slow down soon as we both have 1.5 weeks off work over Christmas. :)
As for how the deep fried cheesecake tasted... well, the inside just tasted like a slice of cheesecake (something plain like New York style I think), and the outside tasted like crunchy, sweet, cornflake-y deep fried goodness. So, it was nice enough, but I couldn't stop thinking about how unhealthy it must be! I think I'll just order a slice of non-deep-fried cheesecake in future. ;)
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