Coffins of the Brave: Lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812

Color Images

The launch of the Royal Navy line-­of-­battle ship St. Lawrence at Kingston on Lake Ontario. This vessel, completed in September 1814, had 104 guns, the same number that Admiral Horatio Nelson’s first-­rate flagship Victory mounted at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. At the end of the war, four more ships of similar size were under construction at British and US shipyards on Lake Ontario. (Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, image 967.106.1.) The Battle of Lake Erie, an oil painting by Thomas Birch. During the final phase of the battle, Perry transferred his flag to the undamaged Niagara and the shot-­riddled US brig Lawrence (foreground) dropped out of the action. In this scene Perry has steered Niagara across the head of the British line to pound the entangled Detroit and Queen Charlotte at very close range. (Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Mrs. Charles H.A. Esling.) Niagara breaks the British line. In this conjectural painting by Peter Rindlisbacher, the American flagship crosses the bows of the entangled Detroit and Queen Charlotte. The maneuver allowed Niagara to send shot raking down the lengths of their decks, while the British ships were unable to bring guns to bear in response. (Courtesy of the artist.) The aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie. Provincial Marine Lt. Robert Irvine painted this watercolor, creating a unique contemporary record of the four principal warships on the Upper Lakes. Irvine was a survivor of the fight who ended up commanding Queen Charlotte when the captain was killed and first lieutenant was wounded. His ship is on the left, with two of its three masts fallen, the dismasted Detroit is in the center, and the shot-­pocked Lawrence is on the right. Only Niagara (behind the others) is relatively unscathed. (With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 990.49.8.) Under way in a light breeze. Topsails and topgallant sails are sufficient to carry the brig over the placid waters of western Lake Erie on a clear summer morning. This photograph was taken at the same location where the American and British squadrons met in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. (Photo by Bradley Krueger.) The Provincial Marine brig General Hunter off Fort Malden in 1812. This conjectural painting by Peter Rindlisbacher shows the vessel sailing in a stiff breeze with most of its sails set. (Courtesy of the artist.) A conjectural painting of General Hunter’s final hours. After the war General Hunter sailed the Upper Lakes as a US Army transport renamed Hunter. On a return voyage from Michilimackinac the brig was driven to the east side of Lake Huron by a violent gale. The crew saved their lives by intentionally beaching the vessel on a wilderness shore (now Southampton, Ontario) around midnight on August 19, 1816. (Courtesy of Peter Rindlisbacher.) A view of Southampton Beach Wreck from the bow. During the excavation the public was invited inside the site fence each afternoon to hear about the ongoing work. Many of the families present had been sunbathing and swimming in the area for generations with no knowledge of the ship hull that lay buried just beneath the sand. (Photo by Larry LePage.) The British attack on Oswego, May 6, 1814. This print is one of a series of engravings that show the course of the combined British Navy and Army assault on the US fort. The Royal Navy’s two new Lake Ontario frigates Prince Regent and Princess Charlotte are prominently featured on the right-­hand side of this view. (Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, C-­793.) Harbour at Niagara, 1811. In this conjectural painting by Peter Rindlisbacher, the Canadian merchant schooner Lord Nelson sails wing-­and-­wing past Fort Niagara at the mouth of the Niagara River. (Courtesy of the artist.) An early naval action on Lake Ontario. This contemporary watercolor, Chase of the British Schooner Simcoe by the U.S. Schr. Hamilton, Gov. Tompkins, and Julia, depicts three of the newly armed US schooners chasing the Provincial Marine schooner Simcoe on November 11, 1812. (By an unknown artist, courtesy of the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.) One of Hamilton’s starboard-­side carronades, 1982. The photograph shows the bed...