U.S.S. Constitution. Artist rendering.

Camper6 said:
That's a good answer. Here's another clue. The answer is written in the wind.
By the way. The ship was called old Ironsides but the sides are made of Oak.
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There shouldn't be any water spray between the two ships, no wind to whip it up from the ship's sides?
 
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Too easy

The flags are goin' the wrong way.....they should be with the wind

Second look, though.......seems the wind is blowing sternward as the main sails...fickle wind?
 
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I will grant you that observation and I give credit to the artist. If they are tacking the flags are still shown in the wrong direction. The wind would be coming towards us.

It's called artistic license and sailing ship paintings frequently show the American flag in full.

What's that sail in the front called. The jib. It's full.

I am never able to look at a painting now without that observance.
 
The wind will whip any direction though. I understand your observance but does the wind have tomove in only one direction at every moment?
 
I think, he already granted the observation to Gary O'. I think, if I were painting this, I would mix up the sails with whipping wind in varied directions, just as the artist did, because all going the same direction would not be interesting enough.
But, Canper6: Thanks for posting this. Anything you can post to keep our minds off the virus is appreciated!
 
The wind is coming from the side of the two ships, wouldn't that make the ship capsize? The sails should either be 'inflated' from the front or the rear of the ship. Sorry, don't know much about ships so don't know the proper names. So, actually, the flags should be 'pointing' at us, not pointing to the back of the ship. o_O🤪
 
Gaer said:
The wind will whip any direction though. I understand your observance but does the wind have tomove in only one direction at every moment?
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Remember now . This is an artists rendition of an actual battle that took place. Usually there is what is called a prevailing wind. That's when a warship will go out because they have to get into position to fire the cannons. There will be gusts of course but once the sails are full they are not effective. Artists try to capture the moment and take a few liberties. On the original the flag is not right either. There should be only 13 stars on the flag representing the original 13 colonies.
Oops . The battle took place in 1812 so the stars are probably accurate.
 
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Catlady said:
The wind is coming from the side of the two ships, wouldn't that make the ship capsize? The sails should either be 'inflated' from the front or the rear of the ship. Sorry, don't know much about ships so don't know the proper names. So, actually, the flags should be 'pointing' at us, not pointing to the back of the ship. o_O🤪
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No it wouldn't capsize. The sails are the right size for the ship and sailing ships had huge keels to stabilize the huge ships. If the wind gets too heavy. They drop the sails. Takes a huge crew running around controlling ropes that sets the sails. There would be lots of action, hollering and with the cannons going off and smoke a lot of confusion. It would be quite the experience. Thanks for participating. I can tell the artist knew about ships and sailing. They can sail into a wind sideways using the rudder but they don't sail a straight line. It's like a zig zag pattern.
 
Y'know, I remember a little test in grade school history involving an artist's rendition of a battle ship.
The question was 'what is wrong with this painting?'

Sure enough, it was the flags going the wrong way
Nobody got the answer, but there were a lot of groans and forehead slapping after finding out

That night, first thing I did after dinner was turn my flags around on my model of Old Ironsides
 
Gary O' said:
Y'know, I remember a little test in grade school history involving an artist's rendition of a battle ship.
The question was 'what is wrong with this painting?'

Sure enough, it was the flags going the wrong way
Nobody got the answer, but there were a lot of groans and forehead slapping after finding out

That night, first thing I did after dinner was turn my flags around on my model of Old Ironsides
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Interesting. I sent the picture to my grandson in grade school. He couldn't figure it out.
 
I saw the Constitution tugged out into the harbor in 2012. Some sails were raised and the ship traveled a little more than 1000 yards in about 15 minutes. It was all the masts could take. Ceremonial shots were fired from the ship and from shore.

Actually there is only about 15% of the original ship left, but it's a very moving experience to go on board and tour. You can really "feel" the history.

After a few years in drydock, the masts are apparently strong enough for a "modest" sailing.
 

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