The War of 1812 Magazine Issue 23 February 2015 The U. S. Frigate General Pike A Design & Operational History by Gary M. Gibson “A most beautiful ship – what an elegant command…”1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2 Origin........................................................................................................................................... 2 Design .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Construction ................................................................................................................................ 8 Armament .................................................................................................................................. 15 Manning..................................................................................................................................... 20 Night Fight ................................................................................................................................ 26 Off the Genesee ......................................................................................................................... 28 The Burlington Races ................................................................................................................ 30 Consolation Prize ...................................................................................................................... 33 On the St. Lawrence .................................................................................................................. 35 Winter 1813-1814 ...................................................................................................................... 37 A Commanding Problem ........................................................................................................... 39 A New Crew .............................................................................................................................. 40 Operations in 1814 .................................................................................................................... 43 Winter 1814-1815 ...................................................................................................................... 46 Post-War .................................................................................................................................... 48 Commanding Officers ............................................................................................................... 51 Charles Ware and the General Pike ........................................................................................... 52 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 53 Reference Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 54 1Arthur Sinclair to John Hartwell Cocke, 4 July 1813, Malcomson, Robert, ed., Sailors of 1812 (Youngstown NY: Old Fort Niagara Association, 1997) p.45. The War of 1812 Magazine Issue 23 February 2015 Introduction By July 1813, with the War of 1812 over a year old, there was as yet no naval battle on Lake Ontario. The navy yards at Sackets Harbor, New York and Kingston, Upper Canada, however, were busily engaged in a war of ship carpenters as each side tried to out-build the other and obtain enough naval force to control the lake. For the American naval commander on the Great Lakes, Commodore Isaac Chauncey, the latest effort on the part of master shipwright Henry Eckford, the 28-gun frigate General Pike, would be ready for sea that month. When she sailed, the General Pike was the most powerful warship on Lake Ontario and would remain so until the spring of 1814. Even after Eckford built more powerful warships in 1814, the General Pike remained a major component of Chauncey’s squadron until the end of the war. Origin On 16 August 1812 any hope the United States had for quickly conquering Upper Canada and thereby winning the War of 1812 ended with the surrender of Brigadier General William Hull’s army at Detroit. When word of that disaster reached Washington, President James Madison now wanted the United States to obtain naval superiority on the Great Lakes, a goal he had disregarded in the past as too expensive and unnecessary. On 31 August 1812, Captain Isaac Chauncey, the commandant of the New York Navy Yard, was appointed commodore and commander-in-chief of all United States naval forces on the Great Lakes. He received orders from the president to use all his resources to obtain and maintain control of those lakes, particularly Ontario and Erie, as fast as possible.2 At the time he received those orders, his title was almost the only resource he had. The new commodore’s total naval force consisted of one 18-gun brig on Lake Ontario, the Oneida, based at Sackets Harbor, New York. The other Great Lakes had no American warships at all. Opposing him on the lakes was the Provincial Marine, a branch of the British Quartermaster General’s department. Their major vessel on Lake Ontario, the 20-gun Royal George, was built at Kingston, Upper Canada in 1809 in response to the United States building the Oneida. The British force also included the older 14-gun Earl of Moira and two small armed schooners. in September 1812, Chauncey’s force on Lake Ontario was outnumbered four to one and outgunned three to one. Fortunately Chauncey had another resource available, New York City shipwright Henry Eckford, who had built the Oneida at Oswego, New York in 1809. Taking advantage of the authority granted to him by the president and Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton: In addition to the public vessels now on the Lakes — you are at liberty to purchase, hire or build, in your discretion, such others and of such form & armament, as may in your opinion be necessary.3 Chauncey dispatched Henry Eckford to Sackets Harbor where, in the fall of 1812, he and Eckford purchased and armed nine small American merchant schooners. At the same time Eckford’s workmen built and launched the 24-gun corvette Madison in only 45 days, a remarkably short time for work done in what was essentially a frontier village.4 2 Charles W. Goldsborough to Isaac Chauncey, 31 August 1812, SNLSC, T829 roll 175 pp.325-326. 3 Charles W. Goldsborough to Isaac Chauncey, 31 August 1812, SNLSC, T829 roll 175 pp.325-326. 4 Isaac Chauncey to Paul Hamilton, 26 November 1812, SNLRC, 1812 vol 3 item 192, M125 roll 25. Page 2 The U. S. Frigate General Pike – A Design & Operational History The War of 1812 Magazine Issue 23 February 2015 When Chauncey arrived at Sackets Harbor in early October 1812 he found the Madison’s construction well underway. With no first hand experience with the British on the lake, Chauncey believed that the Madison alone might not be sufficient to allow him to wrest command of Lake Ontario from the Provincial Marine. Therefore he reported to Secretary Hamilton that I have ordered the materials for another [ship] of the same description to be prepared, which will be built this winter.5 Although the Madison would not be ready for service until the following spring, that fall Chauncey used the Oneida and six of the armed merchant schooners to drive the combat ineffective Provincial Marine off the lake. As winter closed the sailing season on Lake Ontario, Commodore Chauncey changed his mind about building a second Madison: I think myself now so completely master of this lake that any addition to my force would be useless unless the enemy should add to his, which I think out of his power to do this winter.6 Chauncey was wrong. On 11 December 1812, the man supervising the Provincial Marine, Acting Deputy Quartermaster General Andrew Gray, wrote Governor General Sir George Prevost from York, Upper Canada (now the City of Toronto) recommending that the British Build so as to keep pace with the enemy. For this purpose, I should submit that a ship corvette, mounting 30, 32 pr carronades, should be laid down at York, and two vessels of the class of the Royal George built, one at Kingston and the other at Amherstburg.7 Prevost approved of Gray’s plan and informed him that Thomas Plucknett, “an experienced Officer in the Kings Naval Yards” and 120 shipwrights and carpenters were already on their way to Kingston and York to build the ships on Lake Ontario.8 The British plan included building the 22-gun Wolfe at Kingston and the 30-gun Sir Isaac Brock at York, both ships to be ready for service in the spring of 1813. When complete the British force would be superior to that of the Americans even after the addition of the Madison. Chauncey’s complacency lasted until mid-January 1813 when he heard that the British did, indeed, have the “power” to build additional warships that winter. On 20 January he reported this unpleasant intelligence to the Navy Department: They are building a ship at Kingston which they think is to rate 36 guns. She is 120 feet keel and 36 feet beam, and is to be launched early in April: they are also building two other vessels at York; their size they do not know, but think one of them is to be a frigate.9 While Chauncey did overestimate the size and the number of warships being built by the British the reality was almost as bad. He knew he had to respond quickly or any hope of his maintaining