Prologue
Throughout the year 1812, the British Empire was expanding; their Armada was a dominant force throughout the world, and they were at war with the United States. Since it proclaimed its independence from England in July of 1776, the young United States nation struggled to keep its union intact.
James Madison was President, and the bulk of the nation's navy was comprised of six small battleships classified frigates one of which, the USS Constitution, is still commissioned in today's Navy.
During this period, the United States had internal political conflicts between those in the west and those in the south who wanted war for territory expansion motives, and those against it, primarily in New England, citing fears it would put a strangle-hold on the nations already crippled shipping industry. As such, President Madison had a difficult time funding the military, and desertion was commonplace. The war was lost, except for a miracle.
Then on August 19th, 1812, the USS Constitution engaged the British ship HMS Guerriere, off the coast of Nova Scotia, and won. The battle inspired the young nation that a victory against Great Britain was possible, and public sentiment turned to support the war...
During this battle, sailors witnessed British cannon balls bouncing off the USS Constitution, and that is how the ship acquired the nickname, Old Ironsides. This legend is taught in grade school history books.
What is rarely known is that Isaac Hull, the Commodore of Old Ironsides, hailed from a region in Connecticut called The Lower Naugatuck Valley. It is an area comprised of several towns: Shelton, Seymour, Beacon Falls, Ansonia, Naugatuck, Oxford and Derby. He was born in Derby.
A story from this old land, first settled by people of the Paugussett Nation, proclaims the oak installed on the side of the ship, during the famous battle, came from the Valley foothills. Hull sometimes sailed for Derby to perform maintenance on the battleship, in this once thriving city nicknamed New Boston.
During a rush repair, it is said, the oak planking used was not thoroughly dried, and because of this, many believe the cannon balls fired from the Guerriere deflected off the Constitution. There are others who believe a supernatural force field was at work or Divine Intervention.
Throughout the Naugatuck Valley, in the taverns, barber-shops and factories, arguments have been made for both sides that without this occurring, the battle might have been lost and the United States would have collapsed.
The maintenance work lasted four days, and the stay was not without intrigue. In fear of being caught by the British, Hull decided to secretly visit Derby instead of his usual ports in Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Of course, once he moored the ship in Derby, it did not take long until British troops were alerted of the situation, and Hull narrowly escaped capture by sailing down river just one hour before the enemy troops arrived.
Before he fled, it is said that his mother put a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Prophets, in his cabin. The manuscript was given to Isaac Hulls father, Joseph, by a dying Islamic holy man; who years earlier, he had hidden from certain death during one of his trade voyages to the West Indies.
Joseph Hulls providing refuge to the Islamic Holy man was unprecedented, as the Christian sailors of the west, were routinely ransacked, held hostage, or sold into slavery by the Muslim pirates who controlled the Barbary Coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
It is important to note, in 1797 the historic Treaty of Tripoli, which addressed the piracy, was written in Arabic and negotiated aboard the USS Constitution.
A few years after inheriting The Book of Lost Prophets, Joseph Hull, and a group of Derbyites, had captured a British ship that was bombarding the coastal town of Stratford, Connecticut.
Hidden under canvas, except for Hull, who in order to deceive an enemy Sentry pretended to be drunk: they sailed down the Housatonic River at night, surprised the British ship, and saved the neighboring city from destruction.
To the applause from townspeople on the banks of the river, the captured ship was sailed back to the Derby Narrows shipyards as a trophy. It was on this ship that young Isaac Hull learned to sail.
Stories circulated that, until the 1970s, The Book of Lost Prophets was passed along to certain people of the area, this included individuals from all religious denominations. During its stay, The Valley prospered from the age of the maritime, to the Industrial Revolution.
Of note, The Valley can lay claim to the Howe Pin machine. This invention, by Dr. John Howe, enabled the mass production of the "common pin," and hence made the concept of mass production feasible which ignited the Industrial Revolution.
For over 150 years, thousands of Valley people, from diverse ethnic and religious upbringings, peacefully worked together in factories pumping out pins, which fed the garment industry. In the late 1970's, the last pin manufacturing company, The Star Pin, went out of business.
The Book of Lost Prophets is believed to have been destroyed. But it is the hope of many who know its value and power, that this holy book is only misplaced.
