Constitution defeats the HMS Cyane and HMS Levant.

The ship’s last great victory takes place off the coast of Africa – but three days after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The Constitution subsequently returns to the Charlestown Navy Yard. The U.S. Navy considers scrapping the frigate in 1830, but is dissuaded, in part due to “Old Ironsides,” a poem by 21-year-old Oliver Wendell Holmes, which was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser. As part of the effort to prevent the ship from being decommissioned, Com. Jesse Elliott has a new figurehead carved in the likeness of President Andrew Jackson to replace the original Hercules, which had been lost during the Barbary Wars. The figure is vandalized under curious circumstances in 1834.*