Shipwrights in Vergennes Were Key to Battle of Lake Champlain-- Part 2: On to Noah Brown and Otter Creek

The two American sloops lost to the British on July 3, 1813, were the USS Growler and USS Eagle, each with 11 guns.

Subtracting those two sloops from the American side and adding them to the British essentially gave them control of Lake Champlain.

The U.S. Navy authorized Thomas Macdonough to spend the money needed to bolster  his Lake Champlain fleet.  When winter came in 1813, he moved his ships six miles up Otter Creek from its delta on Lake Champlain, where they would be safer from naval attack from the British.

There, below the falls of Vergennes, Macdonough took over and expanded an existing commercial shipyard.  The location was ideal.  It was near forests that could provide plenty of lumber, and furnaces and forges that produced iron.

The Navy hired shipbuilder Noah Brown of New York City to supervise the shipyard.  The work accomplished in just a few months by Brown and the more than 100 workers he brought with him is staggering.

--Brock-Perry

USS Growler (1812)

From Wikipedia.

A 112-ton sloop mounting ten 18-pdrs..

Purchased on Lake Champlain in 1812 and captured by Major George Taylor of the 100th Regiment on 3 June 1813, on the Sorrell River near Ile aux Noix on the Canadian side of the lake.

It was taken into the Royal Navy as the HMS Shannon and later renamed the HMS Chubb (or Chub).

At the Battle of Lake Champlain 11 September 1814, it lost its bow and bowsprit and its anchor cable was severed.  It drifted into the American line of battle and was captured by the USS Saratoga.

It saw no further action during the war and was sold at Whitehall, New York in July 1815.

Serving Both Sides.  --Brock-Perry

Battle of Fort Oswego-- Part 2

The British force for the expedition consisted of 550 soldiers, 400 Marines and 200 sailors along with eight ships, including the two frigates.  Arranged against them were 242 regulars, 25 sailors and 200 New York militia commanded by Major George Mitchell (mentioned in an earlier post this week).

The British left the main British base on Lake Ontario at Kingston on May 3rd and arrived off Oswego on the 5th.  Bad weather delayed landing the troops until the next day.  Major Mitchell had his 200 militia at Fort Oswego and manned five small cannons.  He was seriously outgunned.

The HMS Prince Regent, HMS Princess Charlotte and six sloops engaged the fort while the troops landed.  A soon as they got to the fort's walls, the Americans hastily abandoned it.  Casualties:  BRITISH:  17-18 killed, 63 wounded.  AMERICAN:  6-21 killed, 38 wounded and 69-119 captured.

The British captured a large amount of supplies and a few small schooners, including the USS Growler, which had been previously captured by the British in 1813 and then recaptured by the Americans.  It was carrying seven badly-needed cannons for Chauncey's fleet at Sackets Harbor.  The fort and anything of value that could not be carried off was destroyed the next day when the British withdrew.

Yeo, however, missed another 21 cannons which were just 12 miles away at the Oswego Falls as he sailed away to put Sackets Harbor under blockade.  The Americans later tried to get the cannons to Sackets Harbor which led to the British defeat at the Battle of Sandy Creek May 29-30, 1814.

--GreGen