"Hand Over Fist" | MARITIME MUSINGS

Thomas Wing
4 days ago
5 min read

JANUARY 2026

Fair winds for the New Year!

Maritime Trivia

“Hand Over Fist”

You’ve certainly heard of someone making money “hand over fist,” that is, quickly, and usually in large quantities. But this saying has a maritime origin. Seriously!

In the days of sailing ships there were times when a line, or rope, needed to be hauled/pulled quickly. For example, if the ship were turning in such a way that the bow passed through the wind, moving the wind from one side to the other, the ropes (called sheets) that controlled the triangular sails near the bow (called the headsails) had to be hauled taut on one side quickly, to catch the wind, and keep the ship from slowing down. To do that, the sailors would pull with one hand while the other passed over it to grab the rope farther up. In other words, the sailor would pull the rope hand over fist….

Naval Trivia

These are the short versions of the stories of the original six frigates built in the late 1790’s for the fledgling United States Navy. USS Constitution, Constellation, United States, President, Congress, and Chesapeake. The last is an intriguing tale of mistaken identity that lasted for decades. Two remain. One is still a ship, and one is not…..

Of the six, two were captured by the British during the War of 1812 – Chesapeake and President. Yep, there was an HMS President in the Royal Navy!

President captured several British ships during the war. Finally blockaded in New York, she attempted to break out and was engaged by a British frigate, HMS Endymion in January 1815. She was captured and taken into the Royal Navy. She served for a few years, but was broken up in 1819. Interestingly, her design was copied, and the British built a second HMS President, commissioned in 1829. She served for decades. The decision was a political one: the Royal Navy liked the idea of a captured American ship being in their navy, and she continued to be used to poke the Americans, since the new one looked exactly like the old one. The second HMS President was not broken up until 1903.

Chesapeake was the victim in a serious incident with the Royal Navy in 1807. British ships had been impressing American sailors - essentially kidnapping them to serve in the Royal Navy - for years, since the early 1790s. However, they’d avoided trying to impress sailors from US Navy ships. However, on 12 June 1807, the captain of HMS Leopard decided to take sailors from Chesapeake near Norfolk, Virginia. When the captain of Chesapeake refused, Leopard fired into her, killing four crewmen. Captain James Barron of Chesapeake surrendered. He was later court-martialed and dismissed from the Navy. Leopard took four seamen from Chesapeake and claimed they were deserters from the Royal Navy, hanging one. In 1813, Captain James Lawrence, commanding Chesapeake, was blockaded in Boston Harbor. He sent several notes to the captain of the blockading ship, HMS Shannon, challenging him to a single ship duel. Eventually, Captain Broke of Shannon agreed. Chesapeake was defeated, Lawrence killed during the battle, and the ship taken into the Royal Navy, serving until 1819. In that year she was sold for her wood and broken up. Large portions of her timbers were bought and used to construct Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, Hampshire, near Portsmouth in south England. That mill still stands, now an antique mall.

Congress survived the War of 1812, and fought in the second Barbary War in 1816-1819. Placed in ordinary (reserve), she was broken up in 1834.

United States captured HMS Macedonian during the War of 1812, as well as other enemy ships. After the war, she fought in the second Barbary War, as well. In 1842, she “accidentally” captured Monterey, California. Finding America and Mexico not at war, the captain returned the city, and apologized. (There’s a story here, and I’ll write it someday!) Herman Melville sailed in United States as an Ordinary Seaman from 18 August 1843 to October 1844, when she was decommissioned in Philadelphia. He wrote White Jacket, a fictionalized account of his time in the crew of United States, in 1850. In 1861, she was captured by the Confederacy in Norfolk. The evacuating US sailors sank, but did not burn her. The Confederates raised the sunken ship, renamed her Confederate States, and used as a harbor defense ship. In May 1862, she was sunk again as an obstruction when the US recaptured the harbor. She was raised and remained at the yard until March 1864, when the Navy decided to break her up. The actual disposition was delayed until December, when she was finally broken up for her wood.

Constitution, as nearly everyone knows, remains a commissioned US Navy ship to this day. She’s homeported in Charlestown, near Boston. She goes on a harbor cruise every 4^th of July, towed by tugs. She sailed again under her own power in 1997, for her 200^th birthday.

Constellation served throughout the War of 1812, and well into the 1840s. By 1851, however, she was beyond economical repair, and was quietly broken up in Norfolk. Another USS Constellation was built nearby. The Navy did not have a budget for building new ship, only for maintaining old ones. So, the Navy played a little shell game. To Congress, they reported they’d “rebuilt” Constellation. They did the same with two British ships captured during the War of 1812 that had been taken into the US Navy: the Macedonian and Cyane. Both were broken up, new ships built that looked similar, though larger, and named for the now dismantled original ships. This led to the Constellation now afloat in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor being mistaken for the original frigate for decades. Only in the early 2000s was it finally proven that she was a recreation built in 1854.

Books, books, books!

Most of you know by now that the next book in The Sea Hawkes Chronicles is due to be released by Acorn Publishing in April this year. Perilous Shores takes Jonas Hawke to distant waters to prosecute the Revolution against British shipping. The third installment, titled Treadnought is being written as you read this, and I hope it will be out either late this year or early next. Here’s the cover for Perilous Shores.

Here's a preview of the book cover

Thank you, Readers!

In Harm’s Way, the first book in The Sea Hawkes Chronicles, sold over three thousand copies in nine months in 2025! That’s a phenomenal performance for a small press published book, and it’s all thanks to YOU!! I hope you all enjoyed the story!!