Constitution’s maintop was like a swaying, tree-top fortress when battle began. The ship’s bravest Marines fought from here, aiming to pick off enemy seamen with musket fire. Fixed around the main mast some fifty feet above the deck, the maintop was half the width of a tennis court. It felt much smaller when it was crowded with Marines, and with seamen knotting and splicing rigging damaged by enemy cannon fire.
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