Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard-- Part 5: Abandoned After the Battle of Lake Erie

Commander Robert Barclay's fleet met Oliver Hazard Perry's American fleet 10 September 1813 at the Battle of Lake Erie and the result was the capture of the entire British fleet.  With American control over Lake Erie and supplies cut off British land forces were forced to retreat to to Burlington Heights for supplies.

The yard was burned and abandoned in September 1813.  In 1814, a new Royal Navy Yard was established at Penetanguishene on Lake Huron.

The site of the Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard  was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1928.    The site has a four-sided monument featuring four brass  plaques detailing the site's historic significance and is located in a 10-5 acre park.

--Brock-Perry

Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard-- Part 5: Royal Navy Takes Control and A Plan

During the War of 1812, the dockyard was first the base of operations for the Provincial Marine's operations on Lake Erie and Lake Huron and later the Royal Navy's.

However, due to the yards location at the far end of Lake Erie, supplies for it had to be shipped across the lake from Fort George and overland from Niagara Falls or shipped to York and Burlington Heights, transported overland to Long Point before being transported on the lake again to the yard.

In May 1813, the Royal Navy took control of all of the Provincial Marine forces and establishments on Lake Erie.  With the construction of superior American ships in 1813, , Commander Robert Heriot Barclay, the commander of the Royal Navy's Lake Erie Squadron and sought to defeat the Americans before they could cut his supply lines.

--Brock-Perry

Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard-- Part 4: Four British Ships Captured at Battle of Lake Erie Built Here

The last four ships listed in the last post were all captured by the Americans at the Battle of Lake Erie  "We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours."

HMS General Hunter  10 gun brig

HMS Queen Charlotte  17 gun ship/sloop

HMS Lady Prevost   13 gun schooner

 2nd HMS Detroit  19  gun ship/sloop

There were two other British ships captured at the Battle of Lake Erie but not built at the Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard:

HMS Chippawa (Chippeway)  schooner 1 gun

HMS Little Belt   sloop  2 guns

--Brock-Perry:

Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard-- Part 3: Seven Ships Built There

Ships built at the Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard:

GENERAL HOPE--  schooner

EARL OF CAMDEN--  schooner

HMS CALEDONIA--  brig 1807

HMS GENERAL HUNTER--  brig 1809

HMS QUEEN CHARLOTTE--  1810  Ship/Sloop

HMS LADY PREVOST--  schooner 1812

2ND HMS DETROIT--  1813  Ship/Sloop

--Brock-Perry

Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard-- Part 2: Heavily Defended

In 1796, Fort Amherstburg (Fort Malden) was selected for the site of a new  dockyard for the construction of vessels for the Provinvcial Marine after the former site in Detroit was ceded to the Americans.  It was the only British naval base west of Kingston and located on the Detroit River with easy access to Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

The dockyard comprised  a large storehouse, two blockhouses,  a timber yard, saw pit and a wharf.  The blockhouses flanked the Navy Yard with Fort Amherstburg (Fort Malden) and the town of Amherstburg on either side, with the dockyard overlooking the channel which ran between it and Bois Blanc Island.  The dockyard was further protected by defenses erected on the island which watched over the entrances to both ends of the channel.

Many of the town's residents worked at the dockyard.

Many of the British ships that participated in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie were built here.

--Brock-Perry

Amherstburg Royal Navy Dockyard-- Part 1: Served Both the Provincial Marine and Royal Navy

From Wikipedia.

I have recently been writing about Amherstburg and Fort Amherstburg (more commonly called Fort Malden) and I then came across the Navy Dockyard that was located there.

It was a Provincial Marine (built warships for the province) and the Royal Navy Yard from 1789 to 1813, in Amherstburg, Ontario, situated on the Detroit River.  The yard comprised of 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 navy yard on the Detroit River to the United States.  Amherstburg Royal Navy 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.

--Brock-Perry