200 Years Ago: Ship of the Line HMS St. Lawrence Launched on Great Lakes

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1814:  A British flotilla gathers near Chazy, New York, on Lake Champlain.  The pivotal Battle of Plattsburg was the two days later.

SEPTEMBER 10TH, 1814:  Launch of the ship of the line HMS St. Lawrence, the largest warship on the Great Lakes in the Age of Sail, at Kingston, Upper Canada.

The contest for supremacy on the Great Lakes continued to intensify as the British and American navies raced to construct the most powerful fleets.  Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo gained undisputed control of
Lake Ontario in October when he sailed out of Kingston in his new flagship, the HMS St. Lawrence, launched this day.

It was a three-decked warship mounting 102 cannons.  This was a viable counter to three U.S. ships being built at Sackets Harbor.

The St. Lawrence epitomized the "shipbuilders war" and the extraordinary logistical and financial investments by the British since almost all materials and ordnance used to build warships at Kingston came across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Quebec City and Montreal, Lower Canada.  From there, supplies were transported by bateaux up the St. Lawrence River.

--Brock-Perry