Oliver Hazard Perry was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and United States Navy Captain Christopher Raymond Perry, and older brother of Commodore Matthew C. Perry.
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.
USS Scorpion was a schooner of the United States Navy during the War of 1812. She was the second USN ship to be named for the scorpion. The British captured her on 6 September 1814 and took her into service as HMS Confiance. She was placed in Ordinary in 1817 and broken up in 1831.
HMS Detroit was a 20-gun sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in July 1813 and serving on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. She was the most powerful British ship in the Lake Erie squadron until the Americans captured her during the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813. Detroit was commissioned into the United States Navy as its first USS Detroit. However, she was so damaged that the sloop took no further part in the war. Postwar, Detroit was sunk for preservation at Misery Bay off Presque Isle until 1833, when she was refloated and converted for commercial service. In 1841, Detroit was reduced to a hulk at Buffalo, New York, where she was purchased with the intent of sending her over Niagara Falls. The plan went awry and Detroit ran aground on a shoal before the falls and broke up.
USS Julia was a schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. Initially the privately-owned schooner Julia, she was captured at the onset of the war by armed boats looking for violators of President James Madison's embargo of trade with the British. Purchased by the United States Navy, the vessel was armed with two guns and made part of the squadron on Lake Ontario. Julia took part in the Battle of York and the Battle of Fort George. In August 1813, the schooner was captured by the Royal Navy after failing to execute a turn and was put in service as HMS Confiance. The vessel continued as a warship in British service for a couple of weeks before being converted to a troop transport. In October, Confiance was recaptured by the Americans and renamed Julia. No longer considered capable as a warship, the vessel was retired from service.
Daniel Turner was an officer in the United States Navy.
USS Niagara, commonly called the Brig Niagara or the Flagship Niagara, is a wooden-hulled snow-brig that served as the relief flagship for Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. As the ship is certified for sail training by the United States Coast Guard, she is also designated SSV Niagara. Niagara is usually docked behind the Erie Maritime Museum in downtown Erie in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania as an outdoor exhibit for the museum. She also often travels the Great Lakes during the summer, serving as an ambassador of Pennsylvania when not docked. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated the official state ship of Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1988.
USS General Pike was a corvette in the United States Navy, which took part in Engagements on Lake Ontario during the Anglo-American War of 1812. She was launched in June 1813 and took part in several indecisive battles on the Great Lakes. She was laid up at the end of the war and was sold in 1825.
USS Somers was a schooner, formerly Catherine, purchased by the United States Navy in 1812. She was purchased for $5,500 from Jacob Townsend, a pioneer and one of the first settlers of Lewiston, New York and purveyor of goods on the Great Lakes. She fought in the War of 1812 under the command of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and took part in the capture of the British Squadron on 10 September 1813. She was captured by the British in 1814, and taken into service as HMS Huron.
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.
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 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.
Provincial Marine was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were operated in more of a coast guard manner than as a full-fledged navy. Most ships of the Provincial Marine were built on the Great Lakes.
USS Lady Prevost was a schooner captured from the British during the War of 1812 and pressed into use in the United States Navy.
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.
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.
The second USS Ariel was a clipper schooner built on Lake Erie at Presque Isle Bay, Pennsylvania, in 1813, by Adam and Noah Brown. She was launched in April 1813 and commissioned sometime during the ensuing summer, Lt. John H. Packett in command.
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.
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