A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides, Revised Edition

Considered a definitive account when first published in 1980, A Most Fortunate Ship is now available in a revised edition to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the USS Constitution, America's most famous naval vessel. The warship earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" because of its apparent invincibility fighting enemy ships such as the HMS Guerriere, the HMS Java, and ships sailed by the Barbary pirates. The prose is good, but the graphics are even better: beautiful illustrations dot these pages, as do rare photographs and helpful battle diagrams. Tyrone Martin's depiction of everyday life in the early 19th-century American navy is especially interesting.