The following pages are images from the first Cruise book of the USS Constellation. Her first cruise was from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she was constructed, to her new home port, San Diego, California. The ship sailed south past South America, rounded the Horn, then sailed north to San Diego. Images of the ship's construction, launch, and Shellback Initiations are also noted.
The text in blue script on the pages is taken directly from the Log of Captain Thomas Truxtun, the first Commanding Officer of the frigate Constellation, circa 1788-1799. Pages with quotes from the Continental Congress, rendered with nautical drawings, separate the sections of the Cruise Book. Some are included here.
It was a stroke of creative genius to include Captain Truxtun's log entries with these pictures. The entries reveal similarities between the life of sailors on the original Constellation 200 years before the sailors on this current Constellation set sail.
Lt. j.g. F.D. Schmidt was the first Photo Officer of this ship. His Photo Crew took the pictures that appear in this cruise book.
Read the book pages from left to right and scroll down the web page.
Two hundred years later - a new Constellation, proud to preserve America's traditions.
