The Tigress Found in 1932-- Part 2: Some Mistakes in News Story

"The TIGRESS is split fore and aft about four feet below the deck, probably as a result of ice action. The keel and stern post, deck rail and bulwarks are intact, although the greater part of the deck has fallen in.

"The ship, now battered, was a trim vessel when she was built at Fort Erie and sailed into the 1812-1814 Campaign against the British alongside the SCORPION, flagship of Admiral Perry (OK, two mistakes here).  An American victory at Put-In-Bay and the capture by the SCORPION  of the British warship CHIPPEWA elated the United States forces and they proceeded to attack the naval base at Penetang.

"Here their success was cut short, however, and the TIGRESS and the SCORPION were sent to the bottom.  (Again, this does not gel with what I have found.)

"Now they are to be raised and maintained as historical relics."

I think both ships are still underwater.

--Brock-Perry

The Tigress Found in 1932-- Part 1: Wreck in Good Shape

Continuing with John Lisle's account on Stephen Champlin which is much more information than I could find anywhere else.

Article in the July 10, 1932, New York Herald Tribune  "USS Tigress, Sunk in 1812 found intact in refloating test."

"Midland, Ontario:  From the mud-smothered bed where she has lain for 119 years, the TIGRESS,  American war vessel sunk in Penetang Bay can be raised without great difficulty, Captain Robert Carson reports.

"Captain Carson, in his survey of the point where the TIGRESS and her sister ship, the SCORPION,  are lodged at the bottom of the bay, recovered several  relics, including pokes two feet long, scuppers and iron bars.  Barnacles  as big as hen's eggs encrusted the iron, which had been softened by the soaking.  A chain, believed to have been used for securing cannon, also was brought to the surface."

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin-- Part 20: Capture of the Scorpion

Just after dark, the now-captured Tigress anchored about two miles from the Scorpion.  Shortly before sun rise the next day the Tigress raised anchor and moved toward the Scorpion.  When they got within ten yards, the disguised British opened fire with their muskets then swarmed aboard the Scorpion.

The battle only lasted a few minutes.  Champlin was severely wounded by a canister shot through the thigh which shattered the bone, crippling him for life.

He was taken prisoner and held at Mackinac for 38 days before being paroled and being sent first to Erie and later back to Connecticut to die which didn't happen until 1870.

The captured American vessels were renamed.  The Scorpion became the Confidence (do not get it confused with the HMS Confiance which I have seen happen) and the Tigress became the Surprise (which it sure did to the Scorpion).  They remained in British service until 1817 when the Rush-Bagot Treaty was signed banning armed warships on the Great Lakes.

The two ships were then scuttled in Pentantaguishene Harbor.

Like I said, Sneaky British.  --Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin-- Part 19: Capture of the Tigress and Scorpion

In the spring of 1814, Stephen Champlin,  now in command of the Tigress (along with Captain Turner who now commanded the Scorpion) blockade Port Mackinac.  Their two vessels cruised Lake Huron for several months and cut off supplies to the British garrison.

Both ships were captured on the night of September 3, 1814, near Midland, Ontario, by a combined force of one hundred British and three hundred Indians who first approached the Tigress by canoe under the cover of darkness.  By the time they were spotted by the crew of the Tigress it was too late.

The British then sailed toward the Scorpion with the American flag still flying and the British dressed in American uniforms.

Sneaky British.  --Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 2: Wounded and Captured on USS Tigress

After the battle, he was placed in command of two captured British vessels, the Queen Charlotte and Detroit.

In 1814, while commanding the USS Tigress, he worked the blockade of the port of Mackinac for several months.  Under attack by a larger British force of 400 sailors and Indians, he was wounded by cannon fire with a shot that passed through one thigh and into the other.

He was captured and suffered while being held by the British for 38 days before he was paroled and returned to Connecticut to recover.

--Brock-Perry

Miller Worsley, RN-- Part 3: A Big Victory and "Lake Fever"

The Americans landed a superior force on infantry and attacked the HMS Nancy which resulted in the ship being burned.  Then Miller Worsley had his small command row 360 miles to Mackinac Island where he organized an attack against the two American ships blockading the place, the USS Tigress and USS Scorpion.

With the capture of both ships, as you can read about in my USS Tigress entries, this gave the British superiority  on Lake Huron for the remainder of the war.

Miller Worsley fell ill with "Lake Fever," a malady that struck many serving on the Great Lakes.  Worsley was able to perform no further naval service and was appointed commander with half-pay on 13 July 1815.

He returned to the Isle of Wright after the war.  From 1832-1834, he served as Commander of the Coastguard.  He died in 1835.

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 5: After the War

Both the HMS Surprise (USS Tigress) and HMS Confiance (USS Scorpion) served with the Royal Navy until the end of the war and since there were no other American vessels on Lake Huron, gave the British Navy superiority.

They were laid up after the war and allowed to sink at their moorings in the Grand River.

One of the wrecks was recovered from the Penetanguishene Bay in 1953 was not the Tigress as thought, but the HMS Tecumseth which is now the Tecumseth Center at the north end of Discovery Harbor,

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 4: The USS Scorpion Captured As Well

The survivors of the USS Tigress were sent ashore as prisoners of war.  The majority of the British stayed on board the Tigress and kept the American flag flying in hopes of luring the other American ship, the Scorpion close enough to capture.

The Scorpion arrived September 6 and anchored two miles away from the Tigress.  British Lt. Worsley got the Tigress under way and ran it alongside the Scorpion and captured her as well.

Both ships and their captured crews were taken to Mackinac Island where the ships were renamed the HMS Surpise (Tigress) and HMS Confiance (Scorpion).

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 3: Captured In a Surprise Attack

The Tigress was under the command of Stephen Champlin at this time.

Four boatloads of British sailors and Indians secretly left Mackinac Island on the night of 3 September 1814.  They slipped alongside the Tigress, boarded and after a brief and bloody battle "warmly received" by the Tigress' crew, captured it in five minutes.  The Tigress only had a crew of 27.

"The defense of this vessel, wrote Lt. Miller Worsley, commander of the British, "did credit to her officers, who were all seriously wounded."

One of those seriously wounded was Acting Master Stephen Champlin.

--Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 2: Battle of the Thames and Mackinac Island

After the Battle of Lake Erie, the Americans took advantage of their new superiority captured Fort Malden and Detroit.  The Tigress, Scorpion and Porcupine, under command of Lt. Jesse Elliott went up the Thames River to support U.S. troops under General William Henry Harrison and the victory at the Battle of the Thames in which Indian warrior chief Tecumseh was killed.

Then the Tigress was sent to Lake Huron where it blockaded the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, the sole supply source for the British garrison on Mackinac Island.  By early September, the situation for the British on the island was dire.  Something had to be done.

It was under the command of Stephen Champlin.

Brock-Perry

USS Tigress-- Part 1: At the Battle of Lake Erie

I've been writing about Stephen Champlin in the past several posts and he later commanded this ship.

From Wikipedia.

Schooner at the Battle of Lake Erie on the American side.  In September 1814, it was captured by the British, taken into their service and renamed the HMS Surprise.

Commissioned in 1813 and built in Erie, Pennsylvania, by Adam and Noah Brown. It was 50 feet long ans had a 17 foot beam, crew of 27 and mounted one 32-pounder gun.  Originally named Amelia, but renamed USS Tigress.

Commanded by Lt. Augustus H,M. Conkling at the Battle of Lake Erie 10 September 1813.

--Vrock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 3: Seriously Wounded and Captured

Champlin's ship USS Tigress, blockaded the British port at Mackinac for several months.

The British decided to break the blockade and attacked the Tigress by small boats manned with 400 British sailors and Indians.  Champlin was seriously wounded by a cannon shot that went through both thighs.  he and his ship were captured.

He suffered tremendously during his imprisonment by the British for 38 days before being paroled and exchanged.  He returned to Connecticut to recuperate.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin, USN-- Part 1: Commanded USS Scorpion at Battle of Lake Erie

From Wikipedia.

17 November 1789 to February 1870.

U.S. Naval officer in the War of 1812.  Born in Kingston, Rhode Island, and entered the U.S. Navy as a sailing master 22 May 1812.  Commanded the schooner USS Porcupine at the Battle of Lake Erie and captured the British ship HMS Little Belt.

He was later wounded when the Scorpion was taken on Lake Huron.  (The Scorpion was not the ship he was wounded on, it was the the USS Tigress.)

Retired from the Navy in 1855 and was later promoted to the rank of commodore on the Retired List.

Died at Buffalo, New York and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

Two ships in the Navy have been named for him.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy Ships at the Battle of Lake Erie-- Part 2: Long Guns and Carronades

Name--   classification---  armament--   fate

Long guns are regular cannons and good for long range firing.

CALEDONIA--  brig--   2 long guns, 1 carronade--  1830 either sank or was dismantled

NIAGARA--  brig--  2 long guns, 18 carronade--  present day used as a sailing school.  (Original ship?)

SOMERS--   schooner--   1 long gun, 1 carronade--   unknown

PORCUPINE--   schooner--  1 long gun--    1873 beached

TIGRESS--   schooner--  1 long gun--  1815 sunk

TRIPPE--  sloop--   1 long gun--  1813 burnt by British

Totals:  9 ships--  15 long guns, 39 carronades

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Seizure of the USS Tigress and Then the USS Scorpion

SEPTEMBER 3 and 4, 1814:  After the destruction of the British post on the Nottawasaga River and the schooner Nancy (during Sinclair's Expedition), Royal Navy Lt. Miller Worsley and his sailors escaped to Fort Mackinac which was blockaded by the Americans with two ships, the USS Tigress and USS Scorpion.

The Tigress was commanded by Stephen Champlin.

Worsley devised and executed a plan to capture the two armed vessels.  On Sept. 3, 1814, under the cover of darkness, he successfully boarded the Tigress with a contingent of seamen, soldiers and First Nations warriors.

Three days later, On Sept. 6th, he used the Tigress to seize the Scorpion.

Having lost the only British ship on the upper Great Lakes when the Nancy was destroyed, these two ships gave the British a small fleet on Lake Huron and reconnected Fort Mackinac with the upper Great Lakes supply route.

--Brock-Perry