An ailing John Gwinn placed the USS Constitution back into commission early in October 1848. The ship sailed for the Mediterranean Sea in December and made directly for Algiers, where she took on board Consul David Smith McCauley and his family for a transfer to Egypt.
As they entered the port of Alexandria, Egypt, McCauley's wife, Frances Ann, gave birth to a son who they named Constitution Stewart McCauley in Captain Gwinn's cabin.
From there, the ship returned west to Italian waters to join the rest of the squadron protecting American interests in revolution-torn Italy. despite an injunction any action that might indicate American bias, on August 1, 1949, Gwinn hosted a visit by Pope Pius IX and the fugitive King of Two Sicilies, Ferdinand II, while anchored off Gaeta, Italy.
Because a commissioned warship is considered U.S. territory, this is considered the first visit by a Roman Catholic pope to American territory.
Shortly thereafter, Gwinn's health deteriorated to the point he was bed-ridden and suffered periods of delirium and mania. He died of chronic gastritis on September 4, 1849 while the ship was at Palermo, Italy.
Gwinn was buried with full military honors at Palermo, but the proceedings were disrupted bu disaffected crew members who got roaring drunk along the route to the cemetery. As a result, at least 32 men were flogged in the days that followed. He was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in 1931.
--Brock-Perry
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