Baltimore

The second Constellation, a sloop designed by John Lenthall and constructed at the Norfolk Navy Yard, was commissioned on 28 July 1855 and departed under Captain Charles H. Bell for a 3-year cruise with the Mediterranean Squadron to protect American interests. While on station, Constellation was dispatched to protect American lives and property at Malaga, Spain, in July 1856 during a revolution in that country. While cruising in the Sea of Marmora the same year, she rescued a barque in distress, and received an official message in appreciation from the court of the Austrian emperor. Constellation was detached from the Mediterranean Squadron on 17 April 1858 and after a brief cruise in Cuban waters where she safeguarded American commerce against unlawful search on the high seas, returned to the New York Navy Yard on 5 June. She was then decommissioned at Boston on 13 August. Re-entering active service in June 1859 as flagship of the African Squadron, Constellation took station off the mouth of the Congo River on 21 November 1859, she captured the brig Delicia during the mid watch on 21 December 1859 "without colors or papers to show her nationality… completely fitted in all respects for the immediate embarcation [sic] of slaves..." On 26 September 1860, after her entire crew had turned-to to "trim the vessel for the chase" (even wetting the sails "so they would push the sloop along"), Constellation captured the "fast little bark" Cora (which showed no flag and carried 705 slaves), nearly running down the slaver in the darkness. When captured, the slavers were impounded and sold at auction, their captains required to post bond and await trial, while their crews were landed at the nearest port and released. The newly freed slaves were taken to Monrovia, Liberia. The U.S. government paid a bounty of $25 for each freed slave freed, and "prize money" for each impounded ship to be divided among the crew proportionally according to rank. On 19 April 1861, one week after Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring a blockade of southern ports and on 2 May called for the enlistment of 18,000 additional seamen. Constellation's seizure of the brig Triton on 21 May 1861 proved one of the U.S. Navy's first captures of the Civil War. Although Constellation's men found no slaves on board the captured vessel, they noted that "...every preparation for their reception had been made..." Ordered home in August 1861, Constellation, Captain Thomas A. Dornin in command, reached Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Navy Yard on 28 September, but soon received orders to the Mediterranean, where her economy and endurance would enable her to outperform less reliable steam ships, to guard Union merchant ships against attack by Confederate cruisers and commerce raiders. On 11 March 1862 Constellation sailed from Portsmouth under the command of Commodore Henry K. Thatcher. Arriving on 19 April, Constellation spent two years (April 1862 to May 1864) engaged in patrolling, at one point assisting in blockading the Confederate warship Sumter, abandoned by her captain and officers except for a token, caretaker crew, at Gibraltar, and later participating in the attempt to prevent the Confederate Navy from taking possession of the British-built steamer Southerner in Italy for use as a commerce raider. Returning home via the West Indies, Constellation operated briefly in the latter region, wrote one of her sailors, "trying to capture Rebel privateers and cruisers and blockade runners. The process of reasoning ... seems to be that our ship is supposed to be in European waters, and there is no United States warship resembling her cruising about here, and consequently she might approach closely to a Rebel vessel or blockade runner without exciting suspicion..." With the terms of enlistment of most of the crew expiring, Admiral David G. Farragut ordered Constellation to Hampton Roads on 27 November 1864. After pursuing a blockade-runner along th

Lightship 116 Chesapeake When Lightship 116 "Chesapeake" was completed in 1930, she was among the most modern and capable ships in use with the US Lighthouse Service. Part of the vessel class of Lightship No.100, Lightship 116 was constructed from a standard design and boasted the best in stability, signaling capacity, living accommodations, and engineering efficiency then available. Lightship 116 was built in South Carolina at the Charleston Machine and Drydock Company at a cost of $274,424. The new vessel featured an efficient diesel-electric power-plant (superseding earlier steam powered designs), all-steel construction, and impressive signaling equipment capable of marking her station in all kinds of weather and light conditions. Electricity for the ship's propulsion motor, lighting and machinery was supplied by four 75-kilowatt diesel engine/generator units located in the engine room. Her signaling apparatus consisted of a 13,000 candlepower electric beacon lamp atop each mast (later consolidated on the aft mast), an electric foghorn (later replaced with a compressed-air diaphone), radio beacon, and fog bell mounted on the main deck. The ship was equipped with two 5,000-pound mushroom anchors (one main and a spare) designed to hold her on station in all but the roughest weather. Lightship 116 was designed for a crew of up to 16 - though normally several were away on shore leave at any given time. Crew accommodations included two-man staterooms for the enlisted men, a crew's mess, and an electrically powered galley and refrigerator unit (a major advancement for 1930). Officers (1st and 2nd Officer, Engineer and Assistant Engineer) had their own staterooms adjacent to their mess (dining room), and the Captain, or Master as he was called in the Lighthouse Service, occupied his own stateroom immediately behind the pilothouse. The US Lighthouse Service first assigned Lightship 116 to the Fenwick Island Shoal (DE) Station from 1930-33; after that assignment she marked the entrance to Chesapeake Bay until the beginning of World War II. During the war most coastal lightships were withdrawn for security reasons and were often converted for wartime duties. During 1942-45 Lightship 116 was painted battleship gray, armed with two 20mm cannons, and used as a patrol/inspection vessel near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. In 1945, Lightship 116 returned to the waters off Cape Henry (VA) where her bright red hull, beacon light and "Chesapeake" station designation guided maritime traffic in and out of the Chesapeake Bay for the next 20 years. On two occasions (1936 and 1962) while marking the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, Lightship 116 rode out hurricanes so powerful that the ship's anchor chain broke, forcing the crew to drop the spare anchor and run full ahead into the wind for many hours in vain attempts to remain on station. Despite some equipment upgrades, such as radar, technology began to overtake Lightship 116 by the 1960s. In 1965, the Chesapeake Lightship Station was replaced by a Coast Guard offshore light tower built on stout pilings strong enough to withstand the roughest seas. Manned by a crew of just four, the light tower was cheaper to run and had a more powerful beacon visible for a distance of 17 miles. After being relieved at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Lightship 116's final duty station was marking the approaches to Delaware Bay until replaced there by a large automated light buoy in 1970. In 1971, Lightship 116 was acquired by the National Park Service and was open to the public on the Potomac River. Since 1982, the ship has been part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, now Historic Ships in Baltimore, and has continued to serve as an important link with the history of American aids to navigation. Text from: www.historicships.org/chesapeake.html

Lightship 116 Chesapeake When Lightship 116 "Chesapeake" was completed in 1930, she was among the most modern and capable ships in use with the US Lighthouse Service. Part of the vessel class of Lightship No.100, Lightship 116 was constructed from a standard design and boasted the best in stability, signaling capacity, living accommodations, and engineering efficiency then available. Lightship 116 was built in South Carolina at the Charleston Machine and Drydock Company at a cost of $274,424. The new vessel featured an efficient diesel-electric power-plant (superseding earlier steam powered designs), all-steel construction, and impressive signaling equipment capable of marking her station in all kinds of weather and light conditions. Electricity for the ship's propulsion motor, lighting and machinery was supplied by four 75-kilowatt diesel engine/generator units located in the engine room. Her signaling apparatus consisted of a 13,000 candlepower electric beacon lamp atop each mast (later consolidated on the aft mast), an electric foghorn (later replaced with a compressed-air diaphone), radio beacon, and fog bell mounted on the main deck. The ship was equipped with two 5,000-pound mushroom anchors (one main and a spare) designed to hold her on station in all but the roughest weather. Lightship 116 was designed for a crew of up to 16 - though normally several were away on shore leave at any given time. Crew accommodations included two-man staterooms for the enlisted men, a crew's mess, and an electrically powered galley and refrigerator unit (a major advancement for 1930). Officers (1st and 2nd Officer, Engineer and Assistant Engineer) had their own staterooms adjacent to their mess (dining room), and the Captain, or Master as he was called in the Lighthouse Service, occupied his own stateroom immediately behind the pilothouse. The US Lighthouse Service first assigned Lightship 116 to the Fenwick Island Shoal (DE) Station from 1930-33; after that assignment she marked the entrance to Chesapeake Bay until the beginning of World War II. During the war most coastal lightships were withdrawn for security reasons and were often converted for wartime duties. During 1942-45 Lightship 116 was painted battleship gray, armed with two 20mm cannons, and used as a patrol/inspection vessel near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. In 1945, Lightship 116 returned to the waters off Cape Henry (VA) where her bright red hull, beacon light and "Chesapeake" station designation guided maritime traffic in and out of the Chesapeake Bay for the next 20 years. On two occasions (1936 and 1962) while marking the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, Lightship 116 rode out hurricanes so powerful that the ship's anchor chain broke, forcing the crew to drop the spare anchor and run full ahead into the wind for many hours in vain attempts to remain on station. Despite some equipment upgrades, such as radar, technology began to overtake Lightship 116 by the 1960s. In 1965, the Chesapeake Lightship Station was replaced by a Coast Guard offshore light tower built on stout pilings strong enough to withstand the roughest seas. Manned by a crew of just four, the light tower was cheaper to run and had a more powerful beacon visible for a distance of 17 miles. After being relieved at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Lightship 116's final duty station was marking the approaches to Delaware Bay until replaced there by a large automated light buoy in 1970. In 1971, Lightship 116 was acquired by the National Park Service and was open to the public on the Potomac River. Since 1982, the ship has been part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum, now Historic Ships in Baltimore, and has continued to serve as an important link with the history of American aids to navigation. Text from: www.historicships.org/chesapeake.html

Lee - Jackson Monument ( Circa 1948 ) Civil War Monument Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive Baltimore City, Maryland Located on the Southeast corner of Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive. Text from: www.kilduffs.com/Monuments.html

Lee - Jackson Monument ( Circa 1948 ) Civil War Monument Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive Baltimore City, Maryland Located on the Southeast corner of Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive. Text from: www.kilduffs.com/Monuments.html

Lee - Jackson Monument ( Circa 1948 ) Civil War Monument Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive Baltimore City, Maryland Located on the Southeast corner of Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive. Text from: www.kilduffs.com/Monuments.html

Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument 29th and North Charles Street ( Charles and Wyman Park ) Erected in 1909, this monument can be found on the Northwest corner of Charles Streets and 29th Street . It also used to be in Druid Hill Park, before the building of the Jones Falls Expressway. Text from: www.kilduffs.com/Monuments.html