British and American forces fought several engagements on Lake Ontario for control of the lake during the War of 1812. Ultimately, only a few actions were fought, none of which had decisive results. The contest essentially became a naval building race, sometimes referred to sarcastically as the "Battle of the Carpenters".
Operations in 1812
When war was first declared, the British had an early advantage on the Great Lakes in that they possessed a quasi-naval body, the Provincial Marine. Although not particularly well manned or efficient, its ships were initially unopposed on Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and made possible the decisive early victories of Major General Isaac Brock.
On Lake Ontario, they possessed the ships and , and the brigs and , based at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard. The schooners and were also taken into service. The chief officer was Commodore John Steel, who was seventy-five years old, or even older. He was retired and replaced by Commander Hugh Earle.Malcolmson, p. 29 The Americans possessed only one brig, under Lieutenant Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, and a small navy yard at Sackets Harbor, New York. On 19 July, five vessels of the Provincial Marine attacked Oneida in the First Battle of Sackett's Harbor but were beaten off.
To redress matters, on 3 September, the United States Navy appointed Commodore Isaac Chauncey, then commanding the New York Navy Yard, to command on the lakes. Although Chauncey was nominally in charge of the naval force on Lake Erie also, he took little part in its construction or operations there but concentrated his attention on Lake Ontario. To supplement Oneida, he first purchased or commandeered several trading vessels (including some captured Canadian schooners), but he also dispatched thousands of carpenters, shipwrights and so on to Sacket's Harbor to construct proper fighting ships. The chief architects were Adam Brown, his brother Noah, and Henry Eckford. They launched their first new ship, the corvette , on 26 November. The trees from which it was constructed had still been standing in September.Forester, p. 122
Chauncey hoisted his broad pendant aboard Oneida on 6 November and with his squadron, pursued the British ship Royal George into Kingston. In the Battle of Kingston Harbour, he was beaten off, partly by shore batteries and gunboats, and partly because a gun exploded aboard the schooner Pert, mortally injuring the schooner's commander and throwing the American squadron into confusion. After this engagement winter closed in, immobilising the ships of both sides in port. Chauncey feared an attack across the ice by British regular soldiers, and kept his carpenters sawing the ice from around his vessels so that they could be slewed to bring fire to bear on any attackers.J. Mackay Hitsman, Alarum on Lake Ontario, Winter 1812-13, in M. Zaslow (ed.), The Defended Border, p.51 However, the British had no intention at that stage of making such an attack.
The British began building two corvettes to match Madison, one each at Kingston and York. Their efforts were hindered, especially at York, by disputes between shipwright Thomas Plucknett, who had been selected by Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost, the Governor General, to superintend the work, and officers such as Captain Andrew Gray, a staff officer in the Army in Upper Canada. Plucknett's work was reckoned to be disorganised, as was that of the shipwright at Kingston, who was dismissed and replaced by the more experienced Daniel Allen.Malcolmson, pp. 69–70 Allen in turn was removed after fomenting disputes over working conditions in March 1813.Malcolmson, pp. 95–96
Three officers (acting Commanders Robert Heriot Barclay, Robert Finnis and Daniel Pring) had been detached by Vice Admiral Herbert Sawyer from the Royal Navy's North American Station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the Provincial Marine, and did much over the winter to refit the existing vessels at Kingston. However, the Admiralty independently appointed Captain James Lucas Yeo to command the naval establishment on the Great Lakes. He collected reinforcements and materials in Britain, and crossed the Atlantic early in 1813.
Operations in 1813 Chauncey had the advantage in ships and men once the ice melted. He and General Henry Dearborn, the commander-in-chief of the American armies in the north, had the opportunity to strike a blow before British seamen and officers from England could reach Canada and travel up the St. Lawrence River. An attack on Kingston would have been decisive, but Chauncey and Dearborn persuaded themselves that it was defended by 5,000 British regulars (there were in fact only 600). They instead attacked York, the provincial capital. On 27 April at the Battle of York, they defeated the outnumbered defenders under Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe and looted the town. They captured the brig Duke of Gloucester and also several cannon which had been destined for the British squadron on Lake Erie (this capture contributed to the later American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie). The British themselves set fire to the part-completed corvette to prevent it falling into American hands.
Chauncey and Dearborn next defeated the British army on the Niagara River at the Battle of Fort George on 27 May. At both York and Fort George, Chauncey's schooners and gunboats (commanded at the latter engagement by Oliver Hazard Perry) had proved very effective in supporting troops landing from boats, by suppressing British batteries and inflicting heavy casualties on British troops who attempted to prevent the Americans landing.
The Americans followed up the retreating British towards Burlington Heights at the western end of the lake, with their lakeside flank covered by Chauncey, but were checked at the Battle of Stoney Creek. The American commanders had left themselves vulnerable to a potentially decisive counter-attack. While they were preoccupied at the western end of Lake Ontario, Commodore Yeo had arrived in Kingston, accompanied by 465 officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, to take charge of the British squadron. Embarking troops under Prevost, who happened to be in Kingston on public and Army business, he almost immediately attacked the American base in the Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor on 29 May. Although this was a strategically bold stroke, both Yeo and Prevost attacked cautiously and called off the attack when they met with stiff resistance. The Americans had prematurely set fire to the captured Duke of Gloucester and a heavy sloop-of-war under construction, , but managed to put out the fire when the British withdrew. Duke of Gloucester and large quantities of stores were destroyed, but General Pike was saved.J. Mackay Hitsman, pp. 147–149
Chauncey hastened back to Sacket's Harbor, and remained there awaiting the completion of General Pike. While the Americans declined to contest the lake, Yeo's squadron assisted in driving the American army on the Niagara peninsula back into Fort George. His vessels captured several unguarded batteaux carrying supplies and equipment for the American troops, and raided encampments on their line of communication. On 1 July, Yeo attempted to destroy General Pike while it was fitting out by mounting a raid on Sacket's Harbor in small boats. He was too late to attack at dawn and was forced to wait on the north side of Blackwater Creek. He then called off the attack, fearing correctly that deserters had alerted the Americans.Malcolmson, pp. 151–153
Chauncey's full squadron put out on 21 July. They first embarked a battalion of 250 infantry under Colonel Winfield Scott and contemplated an assault on the British defensive positions at Burlington Heights. They found that the waters around the British position were too shallow to allow Chauncey's vessels to support any landing, and the defenders were too numerous and well-prepared for Scott to risk an unsupported attack.Elting, pp. 98–99 Instead, they briefly captured York again, this time causing little loss,Elting, p. 99 and even returned some property looted in the earlier attack.
Action off the Niagara On 7 August, the Americans encountered Yeo off the mouth of the Niagara River. The two squadrons spent several days in cautious manoeuvres. Chauncey had an advantage in long guns and waited for calm conditions in which he could engage at long range, while Yeo had the advantage in carronades and wanted to close in heavy weather. On the night of 8 August, two American schooners ( and ) capsized and sank in a sudden squall. Of the 72 men aboard both schooners, 53 were drowned.
On 10 August, the British were to windward. Chauncey formed his squadron into two lines; six schooners were nearest the British, with the heavier ships further away to leeward. As the British edged closer, firing became general. At 11:30 am, Chauncey ordered his windward line to steer downwind and reform to leeward of the heavy vessels. The two leading schooners, and , failed to wear ship and were left cut off from the rest of Chauncey's squadron.Malcolmson, pp. 174–177 Rather than try to beat upwind to rescue the two schooners, Chauncey withdrew downwind, hoping that Yeo would follow him. Instead, Yeo concentrated on the two isolated schooners, both of which were captured.Roosevelt, pp. 131–135
Action off the Genesee Both squadrons withdrew to their bases for provisions before setting out again. On 11 September, there was an indecisive long-range skirmish off the Genesee River about east of the Niagara. The British squadron was becalmed and for several hours, the American schooners fired at them from long range, while the British attempted to work their vessels out of range by towing them with boats and using sweeps (long oars) through the gunports of the vessels. Towards evening, a land breeze sprang up, which allowed Yeo to pull away and withdraw into Amherst Bay.Malcolmson, pp. 189–193
Action off Burlington On 28 September, the two squadrons met again in York Bay. Chauncey was actually covering a proposed movement of the American army from the Niagara to Sacket's Harbor, while Yeo had just delivered supplies to the British forces on the Niagara peninsula. Both squadrons spotted each other early in the morning. They headed north until Yeo had sent a boat into York with dispatches, then reversed course and headed south in a heavy wind, with Yeo ahead and to leeward. Chauncey had been exasperated by the poor sailing qualities of most of his schooners, and his three fastest vessels (General Pike, the new purpose-built schooner and Madison) were towing the schooners , and .
At about 12:40 pm, Yeo abruptly reversed course, intending to exchange a single broadside with General Pike while they passed on opposite tacks, and then concentrate against the weaker schooners at the rear of Chauncey's line. However, Chauncey also reversed course and General Pike and Yeo's flagship, Wolfe, exchanged several broadsides on the same tack. The American fire brought down Wolfes mizzen- and main-topmasts. Yeo's second in command, Commander William Mulcaster, interposed his ship, Royal George, between Wolfe and General Pike and backed his sails while the crew of Wolfe cleared away the wreckage and headed downwind towards Burlington Bay at the western end of the lake.
For a while, the two squadrons were mixed up together, and Chauncey's flag captain, Arthur Sinclair, urged Chauncey to capture the two rearmost British vessels (Beresford and Melville) but Chauncey apparently exclaimed "All or none" and chased after Wolfe. He nevertheless refused to cast off the towline to Asp, and no other American vessels were able to get within effective range.