The One that Got Away J u ly / A u g u s t 2 0 1 7 5 5 meaghan maurice; inset: Courtesy USS Constitution Museum Preble House reigned over Monu- ment Square. In her dotage, a ghost ship in a Navy inventory dominated by the Great White Fleet, “Old Ironsides rotted as a famous but underfunded relic until the 1920s, when the Navy actually proposed sinking her for target practice.” Down on her luck but still striking, the great lady was “saved by a national chil- dren’s pennies campaign,” according to Ad- ams. “Over $600,000 in private funds was raised and Congress approved an addition- al expenditure of $300,000 to complete the project,” historian Sharon Cummings re- veals in her blog, “Some Old News.” As for who supervised repairs as part of the ultimate fixer-upper, Adams pinpoints “she was rescued with antique Maine tools by LT John Lord, USN, of Bath… A re- stored Constitution, under command of Capt. Louis Gulliver, USN, visited both coasts of the US from 1931-1934 (with a lit- tle help from the mine-sweeper Grebe).” Festival Fever Here in Portland, “Old Ironsides entered the harbor “beneath the welcoming arc of a rainbow that appeared in the east as she passed Portland Head Light,” reported the Press Herald on July, 18, 1931. More than 65,000 visitors toured Preble’s flagship at the Maine State Pier during her six-day stay. Portland celebrated Capt. Gulliver and Old Ironsides’ arrival with a rousing banquet at the Eastland Hotel on July, 21, 1931. It was here that Maine’s U.S. Senator Frederick Hale brought the hall roaring to its feet with