Recycling Old Ironsides
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Crewmen cabbing over USS Constitution in Portsmouth Harbor (c) Strawbery Banke Collection on SeacoastNH.comStrawbery Banke Presents
HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH #163

In Portsmouth, nothing goes to waste, not even the USS Constitution. Built in 1797, she was way past her prime when assigned to the shipyard at Kittery. Too old for fighting or training, "Old Ironsides" was recycled into a dormitory for cadets. A rare photo shows the ship being "housed over" in the 1880s. The historic tall ship was returned to Charlestown, MA in 1897.

 

 

HISTORIC PHOTOS of the Greater Portsmouth Area appear here weekly

Old Ironsides at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (c) Strawbery Banke Museum Archive on SeacoastNH.com


This image from the book STRAWBERY BANKE:
A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making
by J. Dennis Robinson
(c) Strawbery Banke Museum Collection

Strawbery Banke

BONUS CLOSE-UP

More on Old Ironsides in Portsmouth Harbor 

Detail of USS Constitution being housed over in 1880s (c) STrawbery Banke Archive on SeacoastNH.com