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

Fort Malden-- Part 3: War of 1812

Aside from its military history, the fort  was the setting for the British Pensioner Scheme and later became the Ontario Provincial Asylum in 1859.    After that closed, it became privatized.and divided into lots for public sale and that lasted until the 1900s.

Fort Malden's War of 1812 involvement began on July 2, 1812,  when British forces at the fort captured the American schooner Cuyahoga.  The declaration of war was made by the U.S. on June 18, but the American General William Hull at Detroit still did not know about it.

He had chartered the Cuyahoga to transport goods and military records, officer wives and the ill from Toledo, Ohio, to Detroit.  But it had to pass Amherstburg and Fort Malden on the Detroit River and it was captured by the British brig  HMS General Hunter.

--Brock-Perry

National Designation Sought for HMS General Hunter-- Part 3

The excavation revealed much of the lower part of the hull, charred timbers, a small swivel cannon, iron nails and spikes, cannon balls, lead shot, a bayonet, ceramics, spoons and military buttons.

These artifacts are now on display at a 3/4 replica built at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Center.  It's flag, captured in battle, is today displayed at the recently commissioned naval base at Windsor.

About 35% of the hull remains and has been covered up again for preservation.  The wood is white oak and in excellent condition.  A plaque marks its location.

Last month, Ken Cassavoy applied to Park Canada's Historic Sites and Monuments Board to get national historic site designation like that of the USS Scourge and Hamilton.

"It will raise its profile to a large degree."

--Brock-Perry

National Designation Sought for HMS General Hunter-- Part 2

Ken Cassavoy also led the exploration for the schooner USS Scourge and USS Hamilton which sank in a storm in lake Ontario in August 1813.

The HMS General Hunter was built in 1806 in Amherstburg and captured by the United States in the September 1813 battle of Lake Erie.  the ship lost 3 killed and 5 wounded.

The United States dropped the General from the name and deliberately beached in a storm on the British side of the lake in 1816.  The crew rowed to the American side.  They returned and burned it down to the sand line so they were able to reclaim the iron and other valuables.

--Brock-Perry

National Designation Sought for War of 1812 Shipwreck-- Part 1

From the October 15, 2015, Welland (Canada) Tribune by Greg Furmingen.

Ken Cassavoy unearthed the ship from the sands of Saugeen Shores ten years ago.  He now wants to elevate its prominence.  The marine architect was in his 30s, now 60s, and had just moved to Welland three months and wants the wreck of the HMS General Hunter designated a National Historic Site.

He always knew there were wrecks around Southampton, but he and a friend literally stumbled upon the General Hunter while walking on Southampton Beach.  He tripped over a blackened timber poking though the sand.

Preliminary digs yielded a ship and he became project head of an excavation in 2004 which had as many as 200 volunteers at times for a nine-weeks.  This was his first one done above ground.  The wreck soon could be identified as the General Hunter.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Hunter (General Hunter)

From Wikipedia.

Ten-gun Royal Navy brig launched in 1805 at Amherstburg shipyard.  Shortly after entering the Royal navy, it took part in the British attack on Fort Shelby.

It was part of Commander Robert Heriot Barclay's Lake Erie British squadron and captured at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813, along with the rest of the fleet.

Afterwards it was used by the Americans as a transport ship until it was purposefully run aground in 1816 and then destroyed by its crew.

The wreck was discovered onshore on the beach at Southampton, Ontario, in 2001.

It had a crew and mounted four 6-pdr. long gubs, two 4-pdr. long guns, two 2-pdr long guns and two 12-pdr. carronades.

--Brock-Perry

HMS General Hunter Shipwreck Leads to Heritage Award

From the October 4, 2015, Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre.

Ken Cassavoy is the 2015 recipient of the Saugeen Shores Municipal Heritage Conservation Award for his work unearthing the HMS General Hunter on the shore of Southampton Beach, just north of Morpeth Street.

He directed hundreds of volunteers as they removed sand that had covered the ship since he had foundered onto the beach in 1816.  The work on the General Hunter began in 2004, but the ship's name was not known until awhile later.

The British/Canadian ship was captained by George Bignell and fought in six major battles before being captured by the Americans at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813.

--Brock-Perry

Nearly Life-Size Replica of the HMS General Hunter Being Built-- Part 2

Recovery efforts have been led by Ken Cassavoy.

Bruce County has set aside $100,000 over a three-year period to help cover the HMS General Hunter exhibit and gun deck.

Visitors will be able to walk on the ship's deck and get a sense of history.  When finished, the deck will be forty feet long, sixteen feet short of the original 56 feet,

--Brock-Perry

Nearly Life-Size Replica of HMS General Hunter Being Built-- Part 1

From the January 15, 2012, Owen Sound (Canada) Suntimes "HMS General Hunter" by Willy Watertown.

A nearly life-size replica of the ship is being built at Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton to mark the 200th anniversary of the ship and the War of 1812.  It is expected to take 24 volunteers six months to complete the brig's battle-ready deck, complete with a towering mainmast.

The museum also has a General Hunter and War of 1812 exhibit scheduled to open June 19th.

The General Hunter was built in 1806 at Amherstburg and was used as a provincial marine transport and took part in several War of 1812 actions.  It was wrecked during a storm on the Southampton Beach in August 1816, while an American ship.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 5

In an 1816 letter from a U.S. general said that two boats were sent to salvage whatever they could and then set fire to whatever remained.

What was left after that was eventually covered by sand and forgotten.

The oak hull is in good shape.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 4

At the Battle of Lake Erie, six British ships, including the General Hunter, engaged nine American ones and all were captured.

While in American hands, it is unclear if the General Hunter ever saw action again, but it did serve as a transport and the name was shortened to just Hunter.

Further research has shown that in 1816, the Hunter sailed from Michilimackinac to Detroit when it encountered a violent storm on Lake Huron and was thrown off course.  Its crew of eight, fearing for their lives "put the helm hard a weather and run her in head foremost: onto Southampton Beach.

Everyone aboard, including two passengers, survived.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 3

Part of a musket was found, a bayonet, an officer's walking stick, a wooden deadeye used in the ship's rigging and pieces of a shoe.  Also 194 ceramic shards from plates, cups, saucers, soup bowls and a tankard.

They eventually determine the ship wreck to be that of the HMS General Hunter.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 2

There was confusion as to what ship's remains had been found.  At first it was thought the shipwreck found on shore might be that of the merchant schooner Wenzell lost in 1798.

Preliminary examination of the remains in 2001 and 2002 revealed a mast step, a bracket to secure a mast to the bottom of the boat.  Also, 472 stones, weighing 10,246 pounds used a s ballast were found.

There was a full excavation in 2004.  because of its proximity to the water, a berm was built, but it collapsed and a second stronger one managed to hold Lake Huron's waters back.  Two hundred volunteers spearheaded by the Southampton Marine Heritage Society worked on the remains.

They found it to have been built of oak, 54 feet long at the keel and 18-foot wide with two masts.

In addition, they found a small cannon, 4 cannon balls that would have been used by larger pieces and military buttons from the Royal Newfoundland regiment.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 1

From the Jan. 20, 2012, The Star (Canada) "War of 1812 fighting vessel HMS  General Hunter came to rest in Southampton, Ontario" by Kenneth Kidd.

There is a threadbare flag of red, white and blue of the British Red Ensign with the Union Jack at top and in the left-hand corner and surrounded by a sea of red is on loan from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.  And, it is no small flag either.  It is 8-foot by 10-foot, but was shortened at some point by four feet when a linen backing was put on it.

It was a war trophy, captured by Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie.  It was the flag flying on the HMS General Hunter that day.  Three years later, the ship was run ashore near Southampton's downtown in the midst of a bad storm.

In 2001, low water on Lake Huron and retreating ice exposed the tips of the General Hunter (also referred to as the Hunter).

At first, no one was sure what ship it was as there are some fifty other shipwreck sites in the area.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Hunter/General Hunter

From Wikipedia.

The Hunter was a ten gun brig manned for 45 crew.  Launched in 1812, it covered the British attack on Fort Shelby (by Detroit).

It was a part of the squadron Commander Robert Heriot Barclay led into the disastrous Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813 and was captured.

It was lost while serving the United States in 1816 in Lake Huron near the town of Southampton, Ontario,.  The wreck was discovered on the beach under sand in 2001.

--Brock-Perry

Remains of HMS General Hunter Might Become Canadian National Historic Site

From the March 29, 2015, Bayshore Broadcasting (Canada)
Ship Site may Become Historic."

The site of the wreck of the HMS General Hunter in Southampton, Ontario, could soon become a Canadian National Historic Site.  It is located between Morpeth and Palmington Streets.

Ken Cassoway has led this effort and says he now needs permission from the province which owns the crown land, the town and the Saugeen First Nation in order to proceed.

The wreck site was discovered in 2001 and since then the site was excavated before being returned to the sand in order to preserve the remains.

The General Hunter was a Royal Navy ship that ended up as a U.S. Army transport ship after the War of 1812.  It is expected that it will cost millions of dollars to remove the ship and find a suitable location to prevent further deterioration.

There is an interpretive sign at the site.

Always Like Preservation.  --Brock-Perry