MTMC shipment: donated oak timbers take on new life in USS Constitution.

Many new oak timbers will be installed in the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor as the result of an unusual shipment arranged by the Military Traffic Management Command.

The oak logs were delivered to the U.S. Navy ship free of charge, as the donation of a Jacksonville, Fla., development company.

Built between 1794 and 1797 in Boston, the USS Constitution is by far the oldest ship in the U.S. Navy.

The unusual shipment originated through the construction of a new golf course and housing development at the site of an estate home in Tallahassee, Fla.

As the development began to take shape, Allan MacCurrach, the President of MacCurrach Golf Construction, Inc., found he had to cut about 50 mature oak trees, weighing an estimated 100 tons.

What to do with the trees?

MacCurrach decided that the USS Constitution--"Old Ironsides"--composed of stout oak timbers in Boston Harbor, might have good use for the timbers. During a recent family reunion in Massachusetts, MacCurrach and his family had visited the historic ship. He remembered a tour guide mentioning that a large quantity of the ship's original oak timbers had come from the country's southeastern Colonies.

In a letter to the Navy late last year, MacCurrach stated: "The use by the Navy Department for which I intend the goods is reconstruction of the USS Constitution."

In response, the Naval Historical Center Detachment Boston accepted the trees.

Currently, only an estimated 8 to 15 percent of the vessel's timbers are original wood.

"It's the biggest donation I've seen," said Dick Collier, a center employee for the past eight years.

With its acceptance of the donation, the Navy asked the Defense Contract Management Agency, in Orlando, Fla., to transport the logs. Traffic manager Larry Pate contacted MTMC.

The Negotiations & Tender Management Division responded immediately.

"There were no rates on file for a carrier to haul logs," said Evert Bono, Chief. "We had to go out and find a carrier who would haul logs."

Bono found out that many of MTMC's regular carriers have trucks that specialize in carrying logs. Landstar Ligon, Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., supplied three logging trucks, and Southwest Express, Inc., of Glendale, Ariz., supplied two logging trucks.

"It was nothing special on our end," said Bono. "Considering the cargo, however, it was a neat move."

Bono has first-hand knowledge of the USS Constitution. He was often in Boston in connection with his former job at the old Interstate Commerce Commission, in Newark, N.J.

Had he ever visited the USS Constitution?

"Oh sure," said Bono. "It's quite a ship, considering its age."

In late July, the five trucks carried the logs to Boston, where they were unloaded in an area immediately adjacent to the USS Constitution.

"This was a great project," said Pate. "Usually, I deal with contracts. I got to go down and see the trucks loaded.

"This is a part of the heritage of the country," added Pate.

The USS Constitution got its nickname, "Old Ironsides," following a battle with the British ship HMS Guerriere on Aug. 19, 1812.

According to the ship's Web site, an unidentified sailor shouted, "Huzzah, her sides are made of iron!" when British cannonballs appeared to bounce off the thick wooden sides.

The secret of the ship's strength was her oak construction. The vessel has a 25-inch-thick hull at the waterline.

"It is composed of three layers of oak timbers," said the same Web site, "with live oak (one of the most durable woods in the world) for the frames or the middle layer, and white oak for the planking, which rests on either side of the live oak."