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{ 219 } ​“Smaller Vessels Are of No Less Consequence” The Browns Bay Vessel Christopher Amer Introduction TheWar of 1812 saw the construction of different vessel types for service on the high seas, in coastal regions, and on the inland lakes. The rapid escalation of the naval war on the lakes created a need for greater numbers of ships, and as the freshwater campaigns wore on, both the Royal and US Navies built increasingly larger and more heavily armed ships. There were exceptions to this trend, however.The frigates and sloops of war that ranged the lakes in 1813 and 1814 were open-­ water ships, ill-­ suited to navigating and fighting in extremely shoal areas, especially in rivers, creeks, and the near-­ shore margins of the lakes. For this reason , both navies produced gunboats—small, shallow, lightly armed, and highly maneuverable oared vessels —to defend or attack supply routes and harbors, patrol strategic passageways, and land troops on hostile shores. This, presumably, was the purpose of the diminutive vessel found on the bottom of Browns Bay, a shallow inlet on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River some 30 miles (48 km) from the eastern end of Lake Ontario.1 Like many wrecks sunk close to shore, the hull was known to local boaters, fishermen, and bird hunters, and its waterlogged timbers generated speculation about its origins. According to one popular legend, the wreck was abandoned in Browns Bay by a smuggler named Patterson in the nineteenth century. And, like many shipwrecks, this one had the power to summon up romantic images of ruined fleets and long-­ lost treasures . Typical of this is the reminiscence of one old-­ timer who recalled, “When I was a youngster we used to go skating in Browns Bay in the winter time, and if the ice was clear of snow and the moon was full, you could see a ship frozen in the ice with its copper fasteners shining like gold!”2 In addition to entertaining skaters, the wreck was said to have been used as a blind 8 { 220 } Amer by duck hunters, and, after the introduction of scuba diving to the lakes, it was a site where exploring divers could collect copper fittings and other souvenirs. In the early 1960s, a diver reported the vessel to the National Historic Sites Service (NHSS) of the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (now Parks Canada). In 1967, after historical research tentatively identified the wreck as a British gunboat dating to the 1812 era, the NHSS raised and conserved the vessel (fig. 8.1). It was later placed on publicdisplayat nearby Mallorytown Landing,Ontario. In 1985 I began a program of archival research, hull recording, and architectural analysis that supported the vessel’s identification as a former Royal Navy gunboat . My research also showed that no other British gunboats of this type had ever been archaeologically studied.3 While many of its features suggested naval origins, the wreck was found to contain elements not characteristic of early-­ nineteenth-­ century British gunboats , including a centerboard, a wide-­ bladed rudder, and a heavy keelson. These features, together with the absence of a gun platform or ordnance-­ related fittings in the bow, implied that the hull was modified for reuse as a sailing merchant vessel. Gunboats on the Lake and River Armies and navies operating along the margins of land and water have long depended on small, oar-­ propelled warships. Roman armies defending the empire ’s northeastern frontier along the Rhine River, for example, built flotillas of pocket-­sized galleys to patrol the river and keep hostile Germanic tribes in check.4 Later European history is replete with examples of small boats being employed on rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coasts to support military and naval operations and harass enemy shipping and troops.5 The addition of cannon to vessels of this type created the gunboat, a craft that combined shallow-­ water mobility with concentrated firepower. “Gunboat” is a general term that covers many different forms of warships, but common characteristics of eighteenth- and early-­ nineteenth-­ century gunboats included modest dimensions, light scantlings, and a shoal draft; vessels intended to navigate extremely shallow waters often had flat bottoms to further reduce their draft. Because they frequented narrow waterways and relied on stealth, maneuverability, or bursts of speed to surprise their foes, most were equipped with oars or sweeps and most carried large numbers of men to row them.To conserve the strength of the crew, some gunboats had...

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