Henry Eckford-- Part 4: Warships and Shipbuilding Race

Henry Eckford and the Browns, Adam and Noah, were responsible for all American ships built on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812.  At Sackets Harbor, some merchant ships were converted into warships with the addition of cannons.

Other warships built were the 89-ton USS Lady of the Lake in 1813 and the never-finished 3,200-ton, 106-gun ship-of-the-line USS New Orleans, the corvette USS General Pike in 1813 and the frigate USS Superior in 1814.

Eckford and others knew that the key to defeating the British Navy on the Great Lakes was to build more ships than them.  Some of the ships were partially built in New York and the pre-fabricated pieces sent to Sackets Harbor for completion.

--Brock-Perry