Commodore Isaac Hull (March 9, 1773 – February 13, 1843) was a United States Navy officer who served in the Quasi-War, Barbary Wars and War of 1812. During his military career, he commanded the warships , , , and . During the War of 1812, Hull, commanding Constitution, captured the British frigate HMS Guerriere. He also served as commandant of the Washington Navy Yard and in the Mediterranean Squadron during the Second Barbary War. Hull died in Philadelphia at the age of 69 and was interred at the Laurel Hill Cemetery.
Early life
Hull was born in Derby, Connecticut (some sources say Huntington, now Shelton, Connecticut), on March 9, 1773.Grant, 1947 p. 7. Early in life he joined his mariner father, Joseph, on local voyages and longer trips to the West Indies.Toll, Ian W. Six Frigates The Epic History of the Founding of The U.S. Navy Norton: New York 2006 p. 337. After his father died while still young, Isaac was adopted by his uncle William Hull, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War.Molloy, 1964 p. 104.
During the mid-1790s, the young Hull commanded several merchant vessels, losing some to French Republic privateers.
In 1813, he married Anne McCurdy Hart.
Naval service He was commissioned a lieutenant in the newly formed United States Navy on 9 March 1798 and distinguished himself during the next two years while serving on board the new heavy frigate in the undeclared naval Quasi-War with France. During his time on USS Constitution, Hull served as first lieutenant and executive officer to Captain Silas Talbot. Talbot was in command from June 5, 1799 until September 8, 1801. Since Talbot was also a squadron commander, much of the everyday running of the ship fell to Hull and provided him invaluable experience managing a ship of war. Hull much admired Talbot, a hero of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and learned a great deal from the older man. Hull's chief biographer Linda M. Maloney states Talbot "was undoubtedly the formative influence on Hull's naval career, the man he modeled himself after."Maloney, Linda M. The Captain from Connecticut: The Life and Naval Times of Isaac Hull. Northeastern University Press: Boston, 1986 p. 60. From Talbot, Hull learned the lessons of naval leadership, moderation and to look out for the training of his junior officers and ship crew.McKee, Christopher A Gentlemanly and Honorable Profession The Creation of the U.S.Naval Officer Corps, 1794–1815 Naval Institute Press: Annapolis 1991, p. 471. Captain Talbot resigned his Commission and he was ordered to take command of Constitution in a letter dated 21 September 1801.
First Barbary War When troubles with the Barbary states heated up in 1802, he went to the Mediterranean Sea as first lieutenant of the frigate . Hull later commanded the schooner and the brig , receiving promotion to the rank of master commandant on 18 May 1804, and to captain in 1806. During this time Hull made a reputation as an effective and reliable commander. Midshipman Henry Wadsworth, writing in his journal for August 10, 1803, noted: "This morning at day light the USS Enterprise being at a distance of several miles discovered a galley at long shot. Captain Hull fired on her & gave chase. She fired to leeward (signal for friend) but did not heave too. The Enterprise came near her & she hove too: proved to be a Sardinian Galley, last from Civita Vecchia on a cruise 25 oars on each side (Captain Hull imagined) carried about 300 hundred men had 2 eighteen pounders mounted forward & 2 smaller guns aft. A noble Galley!!!"Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers, Volume II, Parts 2 of 3, United States Government Printing Office: Washington DC 1940, p. 509. During the next few years, he supervised the construction of gunboats and, in 1809 and 1810, was successively given command of the frigates , , and USS Constitution.
Command of USS Chesapeake On 2 February 1809 Hull took command of USS Chesapeake with orders to enforce the trade embargo, but a month later the embargo was repealed and the vessel returned to Boston for minor repairs and filling out the crew. During this time Hull helped the recruiting service. Keeping ships manned was a source of major anxiety for Hull throughout his long career. Hull found it necessary on occasion to take drastic measures to prevent men lured by bounty money from deserting, as he explained in an April 16, 1810 letter to the Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton justifying his placing newly recruited men in irons and confinement prior to sailing. "With two months advance from the merchant ship, and advance and bounty from the recruiting officer and other expenses brought them in debt from fifty to eighty dollars."Maloney, p. 137. Having the full complement of men necessary to crew a frigate was a constant challenge. Exacerbating the challenge was a cold fact: recruitment was voluntary—there was no draft or impressment service as in the British navy. Poor pay and conditions of life on a warship in the pre-1815 U.S. Navy meant Hull and other commanding officers were plagued by expired enlistments and high rates of desertion. For naval enlisted men there was no fixed term of service, seamen served for a voyage or cruise on a particular ship, hence at the end of voyage, they felt free to leave and often did. For naval ships at every port call desertion was a reality. Despite extracting harsh penalties such as flogging, the problem persisted. While reliable data is scarce, one scholar notes the desertion rate for petty officers and enlisted men on board was 12.8%, and states the number one reason for enlisted courts martial was desertion.McKee, pp. 248, 482, Table 12. In all, Hull was in command of USS Chesapeake for seven months.
Command of USS President On 7 May 1810, Isaac Hull was ordered to assume command of the new frigate USS President, but his tenure was short. The reason for Hull's short stay was Commodore John Rodgers. Rodgers had almost simultaneously been ordered to USS Constitution. John Rodgers too had sailed Constitution from New York and did not like the way she sailed. The frigate had seen years of hard service, her bottom was fouled by mussels and barnacles, and her sails were worn; Rodgers also objected to the way she handled. Rodgers made complaint to Secretary Hamilton that as ranking senior naval captain, he should have had President. Hamilton agreed, and Hull apparently was only too happy to swap, for on 17 June 1810, Rodgers took President and Hull assumed command of Constitution.Maloney, p. 138.
Command of USS Constitution
Isaac Hull assumed command of the frigate USS Constitution in June 1810; his time on the ship was eventful. As commanding officer Hull "modeled himself on Silas Talbot", his mentor and a former commander of Constitution. Hull "among the enlisted men, he now commanded, on her maiden voyage was perhaps, the most popular captain in the service. He was also, perhaps the greatest all-round seaman in the navy with a genius for ship-handling and navigation that would serve him well in the weeks to come."Toll, p. 337. On Constitution he was very much at home; it was his "favorite frigate".Maloney, p. 139. Writing to his sister in-law Mary Wheeler, he exclaimed, "I now have one of the best ships in our Navy ..." Like Silas Talbot, Hull took great care in the training of his young officers by seeing to their comforts and their education. Like Talbot too, Hull trained his enlisted men, many of whom had never served on a ship of war before, especially in gunnery. He "exercised the men at the great guns up to two hours daily over several weeks to infuse them with confidence and competence to face the enemy in battle."Brodine, Charles E., Crawford, Michael and Hughes, Christine (2007). Ironside! The Ship, the Men and the Wars of the USS Constitution, Fireship Press, p. 22. Hull discouraged flogging and found the practice abhorrent for trivial offenses.Brodine, p. 79. He prohibited his officers from punishing seamen or marines in his absence. Hull gave direction that the punishment for missing muster or any trifling offense "shall not exceed three lashes with a small rope over the shirt." The typical penalty of the era was eight to ten on the bare back.Maloney, p. 145. Hull did authorize flogging for more serious offenses; for example on "12 August 1812 John W. Smith and John Smith were each given a dozen lashes for drunkenness and the latter for insolence."Brodine, p. 78. He took the vessel on a European cruise in 1811–1812, returning home before the War of 1812 broke out between the United States and Great Britain. Constitution left Chesapeake Bay in July 1812.
In a letter dated July 2, 1812, Hull wrote from on board the Constitution to Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton:
By Sunday next, the Ship will be in tolerable order for Sea but the crew you will readily conceive must yet be unacquainted with a Ship of War, as many of them have lately joined us and never were in an armed Ship before. We are doing all that we can to make them acquainted with their duties, and in a few days, we shall have nothing to fear from any single deck Ship; indeed; unacquainted as we now are, we should I hope give a good account of any Frigate the enemy have.Dudley, William S. The Naval War of 1812 Volume I, Naval Historical Center: Washington DC 1985, pp. 160–161.
Shortly thereafter they were followed by five ships of the British Halifax Squadron commanded by Commodore Philip Broke. The squadron was composed of one ship of the line and four frigates , , , and , who were in close pursuit for two days. Hull evaded the British squadron by warping his ship ahead and using his long boats to tow Constitution. The chase by the Halifax Squadron was long and arduous and established Hull's reputation for courage, daring and seamanship.Isaac Hull to Paul Hamilton July 21, 1812, NARA RG 45, CL Volume 2. No. 127. "For sixty four hours the frigate had been insight of an overwhelming enemy and most of the time actively pursued by them," yet Constitution managed to escape.Maloney, p. 177.