I want to let you in on a secret. Or, rather, a lesser known fact: The USS Constellation was originally built by a Stodder! Cue the double-check of my last name.
Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to you, especially if you’ve never seen the ship with the beaten-down blue hull that maintains a constant vigilance over Inner Harbor. However, long before her second iteration came to rest there, David Stodder was tasked with the great honor of building one of our first frigates, and with that honor, he ensured the swiftness that the USS Constellation became notorious for in and after victory.
But the story doesn’t stop there. Not only did the USS Constellation set the tone for America’s seapower, but she was also one of the six oldest naval vessels in U.S. history. Starting from her initial launch on September 7th, 1797, she quickly came to champion the seas.
When she lost her mainmast in a face-off against la Vengeance, the USS Constellation didn’t give up. When she had to undergo extensive repairs back in 1801, she immediately returned to the seas. And, even when she was fully decommissioned and deconstructed – and shortly thereafter recommissioned and reconstructed by John Lenthall into the ship currently sitting within Inner Harbor – her flag continued to wave high.
The USS Constellation spent over 200 years defending America. Whether it be through ferocious battles against the British, victorious interceptions that freed slave ships or the resounding cry of hope she left by leading one of the first major victories in the Civil War for the Union, both of her iterations are testaments to her rich history of accomplishments on the sea from the second she first set sail.
When I initially chose to come to Hopkins, I was petrified. I didn’t know a single person who went here, let alone anyone in Baltimore. But, perhaps in an attempt to ease my terror, my dad told me about the USS Constellation. He told me about her countless battles, her countless renovations and, throughout it all, her steadfast resilience. And, I realized that perhaps I wouldn’t be the only Stodder in Baltimore.
Maybe it’s silly to attribute so much hope to a ship hardly accredited to my family name, but there is something ever so striking in seeing the resilience that got you to where you are today present in an artifact that holds so much of your family history.
When David Stodder poured countless hours into the construction of the 1797 USS Constellation, did he ever consider the distant granddaughter of many greats who would look towards his warship with the same hope that countless others carried throughout times of war? Did he ever consider that in some unexpected way, the spirit of his ship would live on in her?
The plaque for the USS Constellation at Inner Harbor does not mention David Stodder. His credit for constructing her original iteration can only be found through deeper research. I will never know what he thought about the ship, let alone the answers to any of the questions I wish to ask. But what I do know is that whenever I feel alone, distant and separate from the life that defined me as the person I am today, I think about the USS Constellation. I think about her legacy and how I can honor it. And I think that maybe, just maybe, she knows that she too is no longer the only Stodder in Baltimore.
Celina Stodder is a freshman from Santa Barbara, Calif. studying Writing Seminars and Cognitive Science.
