J.O. Davidson “The “Constitution” and the “Guerriere” in Battle”, Courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2016.
Julian O. Davidson (1853-1894) was an American artist who, in a series of oil paintings, depicted the August 17, 1812 engagement of the U.S. Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) and H.M.S. Guerriere which resulted in an historic defeat of a British Warship by an American frigate. Merchants like Joseph S. Martin often endured the capture of their merchant ships before and during the War of 1812. The Joseph S. Martin and Samuel Greene Arnold vessel brig Canton was seized and cargo taken by Danish Privateer on December 24, 1812. By 1833 a U.S-Danish Commission resolved any claims including Martin’s concerning the loss of brig Canton and its cargo.
