The USS Constitution Museum is open!
Snakes, eagles, and narwhals, oh my! If you could design a figurehead for a ship, what would you choose? Follow along as Education Coordinator Shannon Skilling shares tips and tricks to make your own mini figurehead at home. 🧜♀️ youtu.be/UBO7e3SDtRw
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Snakes, eagles, and narwhals, oh my! If you could design a figurehead for a ship, what would you choose? Follow our tips and tricks to make your own mini fig...
July 2, 1834 was a dark and stormy night. A young Samuel Dewey quietly rowed his boat from a wharf in Boston to Charlestown where USS Constitution was moored. He climbed up Constitution’s side by the man-ropes, ensconced himself in the bow, and began to saw away at the figurehead of Andrew Jackson, severing it just below the nose because of a large bolt in the figure's neck. Having completed the decapitation, Dewey rowed to shore.
In 2010, the carved wooden mouthpiece was found. It is now on display along with a plaster case of the figurehead in our galleries! Read the full story here: bit.ly/3ywl5tV
Good job, Samuel Dewey. I wonder if he did it out of a genuine dislike for Andrew Jackson?
It must have been hard work. I wonder what drove him?
What a very different time when a sitting President would be so…honored like that? Imperial presidency.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Hey that’s my cousin
A good choice to de-face.
The sailors were probably sleeping off the grog!
📣 Announcing the Model Show People's Choice Award Winner! 📣
Over 300 people voted, and this year's top model (with 58 votes) is ✨Vasa✨ by USS Constitution Model Shipwright Guild member Michael Swanson!
🇸🇪 The warship Vasa was launched in 1627 as Sweden's newest and most powerful ship. But it foundered and sank in 1628, just 1,300 meters into its first voyage and still within sight of the shipyard. It remained on the ocean bottom until it was discovered in 1956. Today, it is on display at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
Michael's 4/25" = 1' scale model was built in 2020-2021 from a kit. "I first saw this ship on display in Stockholm during its initial conservation in 1971," he said. "Given its historical significance and stunning beauty, I thought it would be fun to model."
Congratulations, Michael!
Amazing display in Stockholm as well! Worth the visit!
I hope I get to see the Vasa one day.
Vasa
For years I dog-eared the National Geographic Magazine on the raising of the Vasa. Hint, load canons on lower decks only.
I spelled it wrong unintentionally it’s spelled the same way as the name of the ship it is supposed to BGerman word for water
 In German versa means water
Worlds Most beautiful Ship
"Do you want to tell him? I'm not going to tell him." wiki - The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). She was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannon cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability, she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze. The order to sail was the result of a combination of factors. The king, who was leading the army in Poland at the time of her maiden voyage, was impatient to see her take up her station as flagship of the reserve squadron at Älvsnabben in the Stockholm Archipelago. At the same time the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to openly discuss the ship's problems or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish Privy Council to find those responsible for the disaster, but in the end, no one was punished.
🇺🇸 Show your support this Memorial Day weekend. Visit the Museum this month to participate in a variety of activities that honor those who have fallen in service to our country. Plan your visit: bit.ly/3Pdi6N0
