Creation and organization
A British coastal force was created during the Seven Years' War, when a Royal Navy detachment operated vessels against the French on Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain. During the American Revolutionary War, a flotilla composed of 300 sailors maintained supply routes and supported military actions in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The Provincial Marine followed the practices and rank structure of the Royal Navy, but with some flexibility. [2]
On 11 October 1776, a flotilla of gunboats partially manned by members of the coastal force defeated an American force on Lake Champlain. In 1777, the unit transported supplies for General John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign. In 1779, the naval base at Carleton Island was established and foraging patrols were sent to operate on Lake Huron between Michilimackinac and Detroit. By 1780, the coastal force had thirteen vessels in service; five vessels Lake Ontario and nine on Lake Erie. [3] Following the war, the unit diminished in size, slowly becoming known as the Provincial Marine. The unit was transferred to the department of the Quartermaster-General to the Forces of the British Army following the war. The Provincial Marine was controlled by the army and manned by personnel borrowed from the navy, by soldiers, and by direct recruitment of Great Lakes sailors. The Provincial Marine used mostly lightly-armed topsail schooners for transportation purposes, with the exception of the brig General Gage. [2] [3] When the Provincial Marine was not in use by the military, the ships and personnel were occasionally loaned out to merchants in the fur trade.
The Provincial Marine's main base was Carleton Island, on Lake Ontario from 1785–1789. The headquarters was moved to Point Frederick, Kingston in Upper Canada and was used from this location from 1789 until 1813. Merchants who were originally on Carleton Island and moved to Kingston used Provincial Marine vessels for transshipment of goods. [2] Further bases were established at Amherstburg and Quebec City. Kingston and Amherstburg each housed one squadron of ships each, for Lake Ontario and Lake Erie respectively.
The Provincial Marine paid lower wages than private enterprises operating on the Great Lakes. Sailors could earn extra money working in the organization's shipyards. However, the more competent sailors were retained aboard the ships and the less competent were sent to work in the yards. Therefore the better sailors were prevented from making better money and led to the service being short of qualified sailors.
The Royal Navy was responsible for all other bodies of waters off Canada. In 1812, the Provincial Marine operated only four vessels armed with 20 short-barreled guns, and seven vessels in total. [6] The force comprised 9 officers, 101 seamen and 5 artificers at the opening of the War of 1812 at Kingston. The Lake Erie division was in disrepair by 1812, with one serviceable ship, one falling into disrepair and one incapable of sailing.
War of 1812
During the War of 1812, the Royal Navy also assumed direct control of the Provincial Marine's vessels in 1813, after the Provincial Marine performed poorly in 1812 against Commodore Isaac Chauncey's American Lake Ontario squadron.
The Royal Navy units under Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo began commanding the facility after May 1813; the dockyard on Point Frederick grew rapidly. By the end of 1814, the dockyard produced the largest naval squadron on the Great Lakes with 1,600 personnel serving on the flagship St Lawrence and on other vessels. [6] Commodore Yeo replaced most of the provincial officers with Royal Navy officers. Frederick became the permanent Lake Ontario base of the British naval establishment and the headquarters of the senior naval officer on all the Great Lakes. [2]
Creation of Great Lakes Navy
Since a change of command was insufficient to revitalize the whole lake service, and to counter the activity of the United States Navy it was decided to incorporate all the naval forces and establishments on the lake into the Royal Navy. Commanded by Commodore Sir James Yeo, the Royal Navy took over operations on the Great Lakes from the Provincial Marine in 1813–1815. Sir Edward W. C. Owen commanded the Lakes Service for a short period in 1815. Sir Robert Hall, who was ordered to establish a “respectable naval force”, took command of the Lakes Service in October 1815. Commodore Sir Robert Hall took command of the Kingston skow listed as 56 guns in April 1817. In 1817, the Rush–Bagot Treaty demilitarized the Great Lakes and limited future naval forces in commission on each lake to a single 100-ton gunboat armed with one gun for a total of four vessels.
After Hall laid up the wartime fleet in reserve in Kingston, he left Canada in July 1818. Robert Barrie commanded the Lakes Service from 1819–20. To house the gear of the warships of 1812 laid up in Navy Bay, Captain Barrie built the Stone Frigate in Kingston Dockyard. Captain Barrie expedited the repair of the vessels at the bases in case of any emergency. [2] In August 1827, the schooner Cockburn, was commissioned as the first of the Rush-Bagot treaty gunboats. In 1831, he was ordered by the Admiralty to sell off the old warships of 1812 and to prepare to close down the dockyard fit. He remained there until June 1834, when the inland naval establishment was abolished. In 1834, he was ordered to strike his broad pennant and pay off Cockburn (and later sold 1837). After St Lawrence was sold, for $9,925, the other old warships remained as hulks in the Navy Bay or "in frame" on the stocks on Point Frederick. The naval stores were sold, or sent down to Quebec City for carriage to England. Barrie, a popular figure in Kingston, left for England. [2]
While the treaty banned naval activity in the Great Lakes, the Provincial Marine was reassigned under the waterborne or marine units of the arm of the Canadian Militia and later under the Militia Department. In 1910, the Provincial Marine was replaced by the Naval Service of Canada (under the Naval Service Act ).
The Battle of Lake Erie, also known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the British Royal Navy. This ensured American control of the lake for the rest of the war, which in turn allowed the Americans to recover Detroit and win the Battle of the Thames to break the Indian confederation of Tecumseh. It was one of the largest naval battles of the War of 1812.
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Barrie was a British naval officer noted for his service in the War of 1812. He was helped early in his naval career by the patronage of his uncle, Sir Alan Gardner, who arranged for him to take part in the Vancouver Expedition. When the Pacific Coast was explored, he had served as a midshipman with Captain Vancouver in 1791.
HMS Royal George was a British 20-gun wooden sloop of the Provincial Marine, and subsequently, the Royal Navy, operating on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. The vessel took part in several Engagements on Lake Ontario and was the flagship of the Provincial Marine at the First Battle of Sackett's Harbor. In 1814, the vessel was renamed Niagara. Following the war, the sloop was converted to a transport and sold in 1837.
HMS Duke of Gloucester was a 10-gun brig of the Royal Navy which was launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Ontario. A Provincial Marine vessel, during the War of 1812, the brig took part in several of the early engagements between British and American naval forces on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. While being repaired at York, Duke of Gloucester was captured by Americans in 1813. A month later the British destroyed the brig at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor.
Captain Sir William Howe Mulcaster CB, KCH, KTS was an officer in the British Royal Navy who played a distinguished part in the Anglo-American War of 1812, in particular in the Engagements on Lake Ontario.
HMS Psyche was a 54-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada during the War of 1812, using frames shipped from Britain and assembled in Upper Canada. The ship was not completed until after the end of the war in 1815 and did not enter service. Under the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1816, the frigate was disarmed and laid up at Kingston. The ultimate fate of the ship is unknown.
The Engagements on Lake Ontario encompass the prolonged naval contest for control of the lake during the War of 1812. Few actions were fought, none of which had decisive results. The contest essentially became a naval building race, sometimes referred to sarcastically as the "Battle of the Carpenters."
The Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard from 1788 to 1853 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, at the site of the current Royal Military College of Canada.
Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard was a Provincial Marine and then a Royal Navy yard from 1796 to 1813 in Amherstburg, Ontario, situated on the Detroit River. The yard comprised blockhouses, storehouses, magazine, wood yard and wharf. The yard was established in 1796 to support the Upper Canada Provincial Marine after Great Britain ceded a pre-existing shipyard on the Detroit River to the United States. Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard constructed four warships for the Lake Erie detachment of the Provincial Marine before and during the War of 1812. In 1813 the dockyard was abandoned and destroyed when the British retreated and never reopened. In 1928, the site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
The Naval Shipyards were naval shipbuilding facilities used by the Provincial Marine and the Royal Navy in York, Upper Canada. The naval shipyards were ordered by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe in 1793, and were opened in 1798.
HMS Prince Regent was a 56-gun British warship that served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Prince Regent was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada and launched on 14 April 1814. Rated as a fourth-rate frigate, Prince Regent took part in the Raid on Fort Oswego in 1814. Following the War of 1812 the frigate was renamed HMS Kingston on 9 December 1814. In 1817, the vessel was placed in reserve following the Rush-Bagot Treaty that demilitarized all the lakes along the United States-Canada border. Discarded in 1832, the vessel found no buyer and sank in Deadman Bay off Kingston after 1832.
HMS Moira was a British 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy, that plied the waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River during the War of 1812. Initially constructed for the Provincial Marine in 1805, the vessel took part in the Engagements on Lake Ontario. Renamed Charwell in 1814, following the war, the vessel became a powder hulk and an accommodation vessel. The vessel was sold in 1837.
HMS Wolfe was a 20-gun sloop-of-war, launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard at Kingston, Upper Canada, on 22 April 1813. She served in the British naval squadron in several engagements on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Upon her launch, Wolfe was made the flagship of the squadron until larger vessels became available. Along with the naval engagements on Lake Ontario, Wolfe supported land operations in the Niagara region and at the Battle of Fort Oswego. Following the war, the vessel was laid up in reserve and eventually sold in 1832.
HMS Lord Melville was a brig of the Royal Navy launched at Kingston, Ontario, on 20 July 1813. Initially designed as a schooner, she was altered to 14-gun brig in 1813. She served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812, and was renamed HMS Star on 22 January 1814. By 1815, she was unfit for anything but transport duties. She was sold in 1837.
HMS General Hunter was a 10-gun brig of the Upper Canada Provincial Marine then, in 1813, the Royal Navy for their squadron on Lake Erie. She was ordered and built as a schooner in 1806 to replace Hope, a Provincial Marine vessel that had run aground in 1805. General Hunter was launched in 1807, entering service that year. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, General Hunter was converted to a brig and rearmed. As part of the Lake Erie squadron, General Hunter was present at the Battle of Lake Erie where the United States Navy defeated the British and gained control of the lake. General Hunter was captured at the battle and taken into American service. With the ship's name shortened to Hunter, she was used as a transport for the rest of the war. Following the war, the ship was sold into mercantile service. In 1816, the ship ran aground in a storm on Lake Huron and wrecked. The ship's contents were salvaged, but the wreck was left to be buried under the sand. In 2004, the wreck became the site of archaeological excavations and artifacts were retrieved from the site and placed in museums.
Queen Charlotte was the ship-rigged ship-sloop constructed for the Upper Canada Provincial Marine in 1810 as part of the fleet renewal in the lead-up to the War of 1812. Ordered in 1809, the ship was designed by Master Shipwright William Bell and constructed at Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard in Amherstburg, Upper Canada on Lake Erie. The design was based on the Snake class and was considered an effective design. During the War of 1812, Queen Charlotte was part of the Lake Erie squadron. After the Royal Navy took over command of the Great Lakes, Queen Charlotte was commissioned in 1813. On 10 September 1813, Queen Charlotte and the rest of the Lake Erie squadron were captured at the Battle of Lake Erie. The ship entered service with the United States Navy, though after the defeat of the British squadron, saw no further action during the war. Following the war, the ship was intentionally sunk at Put-in-Bay for preservation. Raised and sold into commercial service in 1825, the vessel continued in service until 1844, when the ship was no longer considered serviceable and left to rot as a dismasted hulk.
Point Frederick is a 41-hectare (101-acre) peninsula in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The peninsula is located at the south end of the Rideau Canal where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River. Point Frederick is bounded by the Cataraqui River to the west, the St. Lawrence River to the south, and Navy Bay to the east. The peninsula is occupied by the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). Several of the buildings located on Point Frederick and the site of the old naval dockyard are national historic sites. Fort Frederick, at the south end of the peninsula, is a feature of the Kingston Fortifications National Historic Site of Canada.
Governor Simcoe was a merchant schooner launched in 1793. The Provincial Marine acquired her in 1813 and renamed her after the British naval officer Sir Sidney Smith. She saw service on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. The Royal Navy acquired her in 1814 and renamed her HMS Magnet. A few months later her captain had to blow her up to prevent the Americans from capturing the vessel.
Prince Regent was a schooner constructed for Upper Canada's Provincial Marine for use on Lake Ontario. Built just before the beginning of the War of 1812, the vessel took part in the attack on Sackett's Harbor, New York. With the arrival of the Royal Navy in the Great Lakes under the command of Commodore James Lucas Yeo in 1813, the vessel was renamed HMS Lord Beresford or General Beresford, or Beresford. The British detachment on the lake engaged the American naval squadron and attacked American positions in the Niagara region, while supporting British armies.
