ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609240040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID ARNOLD THE BOSTON GLOBE
BOSTON
NEXT SUMMER, the USS Constitution is set to sail again in celebration of its own birthday.
When naval historians compile the list of eloquent phrases uttered at significant moments, ``heave'' may not make the first page.
Yet ``heave'' it was at 12:55 p.m. Friday as sailors started hoisting a ponderous sail to a yardarm of the USS Constitution. It is the first time in more than a half-century that the ship has been rigged with a sail, officially marking the course change that will take Old Ironsides from the realm of a static display to a living piece of American history.
On July 21, 1997, Old Ironsides is slated to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its commissioning by setting sail on a short downwind course outside Boston Harbor.
After three years and $12 million in hull-strengthening repairs, the Navy believes Old Ironsides is strong enough to kick up a little spray on her own, without tug assistance. Not since 1881 has the ship sailed on her own.
The first of six sails the ship will don was hoisted 80 feet aloft Friday. It was the mizzen top gallant, a four-cornered sail made by Nathaniel S. Wilson, Sailmaker, in East Boothbay, Maine. A tall, laconic man, Wilson stood on the deck watching as 30 sailors heaved his 500-pound sail skyward. He appeared to be proud of his work. He was asked if it was a daunting task, re-creating something with fittings called cringles and pringles.
``Yes,'' Wilson answered.
``It's my first frigate sail,'' he added.
Patrick Otton, a member of the civilian Naval Historical Center that maintains and repairs the ship, was also standing nearby. How long would it take to attach the sail?
``Don't know,'' Otton responded, similarly inclined to keep things short.
``No one's still alive we can ask,'' he added. Otton - and the U.S. Navy, for that matter - would learn the job took about two hours.
The cost of making all the new sails (a total of 12,225 square feet, which more than covers a football field) and the new rigging to control the sails (eight miles of rope) will cost $500,000 (50 million pennies). The pennies are being collected in schools nationwide to raise awareness for what the ship represents. The Constitution Museum's Old Ironsides Pennies Campaign is managing the effort; American Legion posts are collecting the money.
Commander Michael Beck watched Friday's operation from a perch high above the deck, having climbed the ratlines of the main mast to a platform called the ``fighting top.'' He was just about at eye level with the 11 men on the yardarm of the mizzen mast.
Beck, 13 months on the job, deeply believes the country could use a reminder about the principles encompassed by the written Constitution, and that sailing Old Ironsides is an effective way to send the message.
``I want to show the children that we in this country can still do hard things,'' said the commander.
He paused to appreciate the skyline view, seemingly oblivious to the motion of the ship, the centipede-like crews leaning into lines far below, and the lack of railings around him.
``Sailing this vessel is more than a physical gesture,'' he said. ``It's almost spiritual.''
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB