HMS St. Lawrence-- Part 7: British Control of Lake Ontario

The naval arms race on Lake Ontario involved British Commodore James Yeo versus his American counterpart, Isaac Chauncey.

As state before, gathering materials for construction was extremely hard.  Three smaller ships of  at Montreal were scavenged for parts.  And then, once the ship was built, there came another problem finding seasoned sailors.

The British lost the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813 and with that, control of that lake.  So, the British concentrated all their efforts on controlling Lake Ontario.

With the launch of the HMS St. Lawrence they had complete control of the lake.  The Americans, after the day it was launched, never challenged the ship.

The St. Lawrence never saw action.  But had the war continued into 1815, it probably would have.  The Americans were rapidly building two of their own ships of the line at Sackets Harbor.  The USS New Orleans was to mount 130 guns, but its construction was halted with the coming of peace.

The keel of the USS Chippewa (Chippawa) was laid, but also not completed with the coming of peace.

--Brock-Perry

The Battle of Buffalo-- Part 3: Two Towns Sacked and Razed

Gen. Amos Hall then took personal command at Black Rock.  As dawn broke, he directed a heavy cannonade and musketry at the British.  Riall advanced at the center and sent troops to attack the American right flank.

When the right flank broke and fled off in a rout, Hall was forced to order a general retreat of the whole American army in order not to be enveloped.  The British followed all the way to Buffalo, two miles away.  There they sacked and burned every building but four, destroyed the navy yard as well as three armed schooners: the Chippawa, Ariel and Little Belt.

They then returned to Black Rock and there they did the same to all but one building.

--Brock-Perry