It’s a sight not often seen in the Baltimore Harbor: The USS Constellation, headed down the Patapsco River to Sparrows Point.
Sure, the Constellation is an iconic Inner Harbor landmark, but the 1854 Navy sailing warship stays predictably at its dock on Baltimore’s Pier 1, where a new Constellation education center just recently opened.
That is, until Tuesday. The Civil War ship left its berth destined for drydock, to undergo significant work to stop water leaks. On a foggy morning, the Constellation left with some tugboat help courtesy of the Vane Brothers Company and Smith Marine Towing. The historic sloop-of-war was guided down the river and into Tradepoint Atlantic, the huge global logistics center that revitalized the Bethlehem Steel property at Sparrows Point.
While the Constellation is in drydock at Tradepoint Atlantic, shipwrights will lead efforts to “restore the watertight integrity of Constellation’s remaining original white oak hull…