Edward Preble (1761-1807) was born in Portland, Maine, and served as a privateer in the Revolutionary War. He eventually became a Navy captain, and in 1799 he commanded a flotilla in the Mediterranean during the Tripolitan War. The USS Constitution was his flagship. He was a strict disciplinarian and kept his ships ready for action even when under sail, a practice then unusual in the Navy. When the cadre of young officers who served under Preble became influential in the Navy Department, they introduced Preble’s command practices into the Navy’s rules and regulations. Upon Preble’s retirement from the Navy, Congress ordered that a gold medal be struck in his honor. Preble’s posthumous portrait, painted in 1808, is attributed to James Brown Marston (1775-1817).