Naval shipyard, Point Frederick, July 1815. Watercolour by Emeric Essex Vidal. Commodore's house and two ships under construction, the Canada and the Wolfe, can be seen in the background
The British naval forces on the lakes, known as the Provincial Marine, followed the practices and rank structure of the Royal Navy, but with some flexibility. The Provincial Marine were established and controlled by the army and manned by personnel borrowed from the navy, by soldiers, and by direct recruitment of Great Lakes sailors. The Provincial Marine used lightly armed topsail schooners for transportation.[1]
A government wharf was constructed in 1783 on the eastern side of Lake Ontario by Major John Ross of the 34th Regiment, who was responsible for settling Loyalists at Cataraqui (what is now Kingston) between 1783 and 1785.
In 1785, the place of transshipment for government stores was relocated from Carleton Island to Cataraqui. The merchants who handled transshipment of stores at Carleton Island, using Provincial Marine vessels, built wharves and warehouses near old Fort Frontenac.[1]
Naval depot
Point Frederick was established as a naval depot in 1789 and ships began to be constructed.[2] Point Frederick served as the Lake Ontario base of the British naval establishment and the headquarters of the senior naval officer on all the Great Lakes from 1789 to 1813.[1] The quarter-master-general's department of the army, who had a monopoly of shipping on the Great Lakes, built transport schooners of the Provincial Marine on Point Frederick by 1792. Because relations with the United States were rapidly deteriorating, a heavily armed, three-masted square-rigged vessel, HMSRoyal George, was built in 1809 and launched in Navy Bay specifically for fighting on the lakes, but she was not immediately commissioned. Commodore Hugh Earle was named commander to the Provincial Marine; he commanded the Royal George when she bombarded the American dockyard at Sackets Harbor on 19 July 1812 and when she was attacked by American gunboats off Kingston on 10 November 1812.[1]
Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard was the only Royal Navy base on Lake Ontario, countering the American naval base at nearby Sackets Harbor, New York during the War of 1812.
During the war, British naval operations on the Lake Ontario were centered at Point Frederick, at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui Rivers at Lake Ontario. In 1812, the Provincial Marine operated only four vessels armed with 20 short-barreled guns. After May 1813, when the Royal Navy units under Commodore Sir James Yeo took command of the facility, it grew rapidly. At the end of 1814, the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard produced the largest naval squadron on the Great Lakes, with 1,600 personnel serving on the St. Lawrence, on four other ships, and four smaller vessels, totalling 518 guns."[3] During the war, attacks were launched from the dockyard on the American bases at Sackets Harbour, and Oswego. On 10 November 1812, at the beginning of the war, the Americans pursued HMS Royal George into Kingston harbour and were held off by the shore batteries.[4]
Commanded by Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, the Royal Navy took over operations on the Great Lakes from the Provincial Marine in May, 1813. The Lakes Service was raised to the status of a Flag Command and Kingston was the Commodore's headquarters. Yeo's planned attack in 1812 on Sackets Harbor did not come about since General Sir George Prévost failed to complete the attack to destroy the two large American frigates being built there. In 1813, Yeo and Chauncey, the American commander, attempted to out-build the other and refused action except on favourable terms. Yeo captured Oswego and then blockaded Sackets Harbor on 6 May 1814; he was reinforced by two frigates built on Point Frederick. Before the war ended Yeo had commissioned the 112-gun St. Lawrence, a three-decker man-of-war, and two more were being built.[1]
A stone building, built around 1813, was used as a naval hospital and is now known as the ordnance storekeeper's quarters. After the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1817, the role of the dockyard was restricted to the carriage of troops and supplies to the upper posts.[1]
A blacksmith shop, which was built in the dockyard in 1823, is now used by the Royal Military College of Canada. Half of the Royal Artificer's cottages, which were built in 1822, were destroyed by a fire in the 1880s.[4]
Attack on Fort Oswego (May 1914), War of 1812View of Kingston Naval Dockyard from Fort Henry 1820s.Map of Point Frederick Peninsula, c. 1870 now grounds of the Royal Military College of CanadaHMS St Lawrence
The War of 1812 has been known as the shipbuilders' war. Ships were built on Point Frederick by the successive commissioners of the dockyard, Captain Richard O'Conor and Sir Robert Hall. Under the terms of the Rush–Bagot agreement of 1817, naval forces on Lake Ontario were restricted to one gunboat. Nevertheless, Sir Robert Hall maintained the ships of the fleet in ordinary until his death in 1818. His replacement, Captain Robert Barrie, built a stone frigate to warehouse the gear and rigging from the ships, which were dismantled and housed in Navy Bay. After the wood barracks burned down in 1816, the Stone Frigate became the main building on Point Frederick. Captain Robert Barrie was recalled and the war ships, which were by the early 1830s merely hulks, were auctioned off.[4]
Closures and reopenings
In August 1827, the Cockburn was commissioned as the first of the treaty gun-boats. In 1831 Barrie received instructions by the Admiralty to sell off the old warships of 1812 and to prepare to close down the dockyard fit. In 1834 he was ordered to strike his broad pennant and pay off the Cockburn. Although the St. Lawrence was sold, for $9925, the other warships remained as hulks in Navy Bay or "in frame" on the stocks on Point Frederick. The naval stores were sold, or sent down to Quebec for carriage to England. Barrie left for England in 1834.[1]
Fort Henry, Point Frederick and Tete du Pont Barracks, Kingston, from the old redoubt (1841) by Lieutenant Philip John Bainbrigge
Closed in 1835, the dockyard reopened in 1837 in response to the Rebellions of 1837. Vessels were hurriedly bought and armed and manned by sailors from the fleet. In the spring of 1838 Captain Williams Sandom,[5] R.N., garrisoned his Royal Marines in the dockyard warehouse the Stone Frigate to the St. Lawrence pier in Navy Bay and rebought the Netley, one of the old hulks of 1812 which still lay on stocks in the dockyard. She was commissioned as HMS Niagara and served as their headquarters until she was paid off in January 1843. Sandom, who commanded fleets armed, two steamships, Queen Victoria and Cobourg. When Bill Johnson's "Hunter Patriots" invaded Canada below Prescott, Sandom carried the militia on his steam vessels to defeat the insurgents at the Battle of the Windmill.[1] Steamships were hired to transport regulars and militia from Kingston at the Battle of the Windmill, near Prescott. Steam warships operated from the dockyard. Lieutenant Philip John Bainbrigge (1817–1881), a Royal Engineer posted to Canada from 1836 to 1842, painted "Fort Henry, Point Frederick and Tete du Pont Barracks, Kingston, from the old redoubt" (August 1841) showing the Naval Cottages, the hospital, Stone Frigate, Point Henry and Fort Henry in the distance. The flag flying from atop the Stone Frigate indicates Sandom's HQ.
After 1838, the British government revived the naval establishment on the lakes and built the Minos (1840), a steam war-vessel, and the Cherokee (1841), a wooden paddle-wheel steam warship, which the US saw as a breach of the Rush-Bagot Agreement. Niagara’s place was taken by the commissioning, on 3 April 1843, of a small iron steam warship which had been assembled in 1842. Although Sandom returned to England in 1843, other officers remained with the new steamships to patrol Lake Ontario. The dockyard was officially re-opened, in charge of a clerk David Taylor, on 3 April 1845–1850. Commander William N. Fowell, then serving on the Mohawk, assumed command of all naval vessels on the lakes and he took up his residence in the "Commodore's Cottage" on Point Frederick.
The Oregon boundary dispute of 1845 increased the need for naval preparations on the lakes. Vessels were hurriedly bought and armed and manned by sailors from the fleet. In 1846, Mohawk went to Lake Erie and Cherokee was commissioned for the first time. One of the towers, known as Fort Frederick, was built by Royal Engineers on Point Frederick near the old dockyard. By 1850, Cherokee was laid up, and Mohawk returned to harbour duty in Kingston.
Lt. Commander Frederick Charles Herbert was the last naval officer to command on Point Frederick 1850–1853. On 21 June 1852 he was ordered by the Admiralty to pay off Mohawk, which was sold out of the service. Her captain, Lt. Commander Frederick Charles Herbert, returned to England once the dockyard closed in 1853.[1]
The Fenian raids of 1866 brought another revival of naval power on the lakes. Vessels were hurriedly bought and armed and manned by sailors from the fleet. The wooden paddle-wheel steam tug St. Andrews, the sailing steamer Hercules, the Canada, and the Royal patrolled from Montreal to Kingston, where they used the facilities at Point Frederick and at Navy Bay. When the danger receded, however, no permanent naval establishment on the lakes was set up.[1]
Final closure and conversion to college
On 1 July 1867, the gunboat Hercules, which had been especially recommissioned for the celebrations of the birth of a nation, took part in the celebrations. In combined exercises with the militia she "engaged the fort with her guns". In the evening a pyrotechnic display included "blue lights from H.M. Stores Dockyard" In 1870, the British garrisons were withdrawn. The remaining naval stores in the Stone Frigate, valued at $357,000 were shipped to England in the barge Frontenac.[1]
The ordnance and admiralty lands in Kingston, which included the dockyard on Point Frederick, were transferred to the Dominion of Canada by the Admiralty on condition that it should be used only for "Naval purposes and for the naval defence of Canada." An order in council ratified the agreement adding the phrase and for the naval defence of Canada.[4]
In 1871 the militia encamped on the Point. In 1875 it was selected as the site for the new Military College, the students being housed in the Stone Frigate from 1876. A wooden commodore's house, which was shown on a plan dated 1868–1870, was still standing when the Royal Military College of Canada opened in the 1876. By the 1860s, only the Stone Frigate storehouse and one wharf were kept in repair. The old hulks of the War of 1812 were hard aground in the mud and broken by the annual freezing and thawing of Navy Bay and Deadman Bay.
Commodore Rene Hypolite Pepin de Laforce, a naval officer, was appointed to command the Provincial Marine on Point Frederick on 15 November 1780 – 1786. Commodore David Betton commanded the Provincial Marine 1786–1802. Commodore Jean-Baptiste Bouchette commanded the Provincial Marine 1802–1804. Commodore John Steel commanded the Provincial Marine 1804–1812 until retiring at 75 years of age. Commodore Hugh Earle, a son-in-law of Molly Brant who had been commissioned in the Lakes Service in 1792, commanded the Provincial Marine from 1812 to 1813. Since a change of command was insufficient to revitalize the whole lake service, it was decided to incorporate all the naval forces and establishments on the lake into the Royal Navy. Commanded by Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, the Royal Navy took over operations on the Great Lakes from the Provincial Marine in 1813–1815. Sir Edward W. C. Owen, K.C.B. commanded the Lakes Service for a short period in 1815. Sir Robert Hall, K.C.B., who was ordered to establish a "respectable naval force", took command of the Lakes Service in October 1815 – 1818. Commodore Sir Robert Hall took command of the Kingston Skow listed as 56 guns in April 1817. In 1817, the Rush-Bagot agreement limited future naval forces in commission on each lake to a single 100-ton gunboat armed with one gun. After Hall laid up the wartime fleet in reserve in Kingston, he left Canada in July 1818. Robert Barrie commanded the Lakes Service from 1819 to 1820. To house the gear of the warships of 1812 laid up in Navy Bay, Captain Barrie built the Stone Frigate in Kingston Dockyard. "Commodore's Cottage" was a house which Barrie had built on the site of the present Hewitt House. Captain Barrie expedited the repair of the vessels at the bases in case of any emergency. From December 1820, the command of Flag Officer of the Great Lakes disappeared from the Navy List and in March 1824 Barrie's headquarters was shown to have been transferred to Kingston where he was listed as "Acting Resident Commissioner, Kingston, Upper Canada" 1827–34.[1]
The dockyard was in the care of John B. Marks, naval clerk, the patron of St. Mark's church, Barriefield from 1834 to 1838. In 1835–1837 the yard was completely closed down. Captain Williams Sandom, R.N., commanded the dockyard in the spring of 1838–1845, in response to the Rebellions of 1837. Commander William N. Fowell, then serving on the Mohawk, assumed command of all naval vessels on the lakes and he took up his residence in the "Commodore's Cottage" on Point Frederick 1845. On 3 April 1845, the dockyard was officially re-opened, in charge David Taylor, a clerk from 1845 to 1850. Lt. Commander Frederick Charles Herbert, was the last naval officer to command on Point Frederick 1850–1853. In 1853, the yard was completely closed, however it remained closed to the public since it still housed naval stores.[1] The Fenian raids of 1866 brought another revival of naval power on the lakes. Vessels were hurriedly bought and armed and manned by sailors from the fleet who made use of the facilities at Point Frederick and of Navy Bay while patrolling from Montreal to Kingston. No permanent naval establishment on the lakes was set up when the danger receded.[1]
Fort Frederick, which is operated as the Royal Military College of Canada Museum, [7] maintains a collection of artifacts and records relating to Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard which once occupied Point Frederick.[8] A model by master modeler, Louis Roosen, depicting HMS St. Lawrence (1814), (mounting 102 guns) the only 1st Rate Royal Navy Ship-of-the-Line to sail on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812, was presented to the Royal Military College of Canada Commandant, Brigadier-General Tom Lawson on 22 April 2008. The model is approx 1.4m (4 ½ ") long and took over 4000 hours to complete.[9]
Ships built
The following ships were built and launched at the dockyard:
Sir James Lucas Yeo,, was a British naval commander who served in the War of 1812. Born in Southampton, he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 10 and saw his first action in the Adriatic Sea. He distinguished himself in combat multiple times, most notably during the Portuguese conquest of French Guiana, earning knighthoods in the Portuguese Order of Aviz and the British Order of the Bath. He was given command of the frigate Southampton, in 1812, but his ship was wrecked in the Bahamas although he was acquitted of blame for its loss. Yeo was then given command of the squadron on Lake Ontario and commanded it during several engagements with the Americans.
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Barrie was a British naval officer noted for his service in the War of 1812. He was helped early in his naval career by the patronage of his uncle, Sir Alan Gardner, who arranged for him to take part in the Vancouver Expedition. When the Pacific Coast was explored, he had served as a midshipman with Captain Vancouver in 1791.
HMS Royal George was a British 20-gun wooden sloop of the Provincial Marine, and subsequently, the Royal Navy, operating on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. The vessel took part in several Engagements on Lake Ontario and was the flagship of the Provincial Marine at the First Battle of Sackett's Harbor. In 1814, the vessel was renamed Niagara. Following the war, the sloop was converted to a transport and sold in 1837.
HMS Duke of Gloucester was a 10-gun brig of the Royal Navy which was launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Ontario. A Provincial Marine vessel, during the War of 1812, the brig took part in several of the early engagements between British and American naval forces on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. While being repaired at York, Duke of Gloucester was captured by Americans in 1813. A month later the British destroyed the brig at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor.
HMS St Lawrence was a 102-gun first-rate wooden warship of the Royal Navy that served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Built on the lake at the Royal Navy dockyard in Kingston, Ontario, she was the only Royal Navy ship of the line ever to be launched and operated entirely in fresh water. Constructed in 1814, the ship's arrival on the lake ended all naval action and St Lawrence finished the war having never gone into battle. Following the war, the vessel was laid up, eventually being sold in 1832 to private interests. The ship later sank and is now a recreational dive spot.
HMS Princess Charlotte, later HMS Burlington, was a 42-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built in 1814, during the War of 1812 at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Ontario. She had originally been built as Vittoria, but was renamed before being launched. She was constructed to a design by George Record, and was built under a private contract by Master shipwright John Goudie. She served on Lake Ontario, having been commissioned at Oswego on 5 May 1814 under Captain William Mulcaster.
HMS Psyche was a 54-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada during the War of 1812, using frames shipped from Britain and assembled in Upper Canada. The ship was not completed until after the end of the war in 1815 and did not enter service. Under the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1816, the frigate was disarmed and laid up at Kingston. The ultimate fate of the ship is unknown.
The Engagements on Lake Ontario encompass the prolonged naval contest for control of the lake during the War of 1812. 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."
Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard was a Provincial Marine and then a Royal Navy yard from 1796 to 1813 in Amherstburg, Ontario, situated on the Detroit River. The yard comprised blockhouses, storehouses, magazine, wood yard and wharf. The yard was established in 1796 to support the Upper Canada Provincial Marine after Great Britain ceded a pre-existing shipyard on the Detroit River to the United States. Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard constructed four warships for the Lake Erie detachment of the Provincial Marine before and during the War of 1812. In 1813 the dockyard was abandoned and destroyed when the British retreated and never reopened. In 1928, the site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.
The Naval Shipyards were naval shipbuilding facilities used by the Provincial Marine and the Royal Navy in York, Upper Canada. The naval shipyards were ordered by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe in 1793, and were opened in 1798.
HMS Prince Regent was a 56-gun British warship that served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Prince Regent was built at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada and launched on 14 April 1814. Rated as a fourth-rate frigate, Prince Regent took part in the Raid on Fort Oswego in 1814. Following the War of 1812 the frigate was renamed HMS Kingston on 9 December 1814. In 1817, the vessel was placed in reserve following the Rush-Bagot Treaty that demilitarized all the lakes along the United States-Canada border. Discarded in 1832, the vessel found no buyer and sank in Deadman Bay off Kingston after 1832.
HMS Moira was a British 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy, that plied the waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River during the War of 1812. Initially constructed for the Provincial Marine in 1805, the vessel took part in the Engagements on Lake Ontario. Renamed Charwell in 1814, following the war, the vessel became a powder hulk and an accommodation vessel. The vessel was sold in 1837.
HMS Wolfe was a 20-gun sloop-of-war, launched at the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard at Kingston, Upper Canada, on 22 April 1813. She served in the British naval squadron in several engagements on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Upon her launch, Wolfe was made the flagship of the squadron until larger vessels became available. Along with the naval engagements on Lake Ontario, Wolfe supported land operations in the Niagara region and at the Battle of Fort Oswego. Following the war, the vessel was laid up in reserve and eventually sold in 1832.
HMS Lord Melville was a brig of the Royal Navy launched at Kingston, Ontario, on 20 July 1813. Initially designed as a schooner, she was altered to 14-gun brig in 1813. She served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812, and was renamed HMS Star on 22 January 1814. By 1815, she was unfit for anything but transport duties. She was sold in 1837.
Provincial Marine was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were operated in more of a coast guard manner than as a full-fledged navy. Most ships of the Provincial Marine were built on the Great Lakes.
Daniel Pring was an officer in the British Royal Navy. He is best known for the part he played in the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States.
HMCS Stone Frigate is a dormitory of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. Built to be a naval storehouse, it was converted to its present use in 1876 on the establishment of the college.
Point Frederick is a 41-hectare (101-acre) peninsula in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The peninsula is located at the south end of the Rideau Canal where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River. Point Frederick is bounded by the Cataraqui River to the west, the St. Lawrence River to the south, and Navy Bay to the east. The peninsula is occupied by the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). Several of the buildings located on Point Frederick and the site of the old naval dockyard are national historic sites. Fort Frederick, at the south end of the peninsula, is a feature of the Kingston Fortifications National Historic Site of Canada.
Governor Simcoe was a merchant schooner launched in 1793. The Provincial Marine acquired her in 1813 and renamed her after the British naval officer Sir Sidney Smith. She saw service on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. The Royal Navy acquired her in 1814 and renamed her HMS Magnet. A few months later her captain had to blow her up to prevent the Americans from capturing the vessel.
Prince Regent was a schooner constructed for Upper Canada's Provincial Marine for use on Lake Ontario. Built just before the beginning of the War of 1812, the vessel took part in the attack on Sackett's Harbor, New York. With the arrival of the Royal Navy in the Great Lakes under the command of Commodore James Lucas Yeo in 1813, the vessel was renamed HMS Lord Beresford or General Beresford, or Beresford. The British detachment on the lake engaged the American naval squadron and attacked American positions in the Niagara region, while supporting British armies.
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Broad Pennants On Point Frederick By Professor Richard A. Preston, Department of History. Royal Military College 1958. pp 198-211
David Lyon & Rif Winfield (2004). The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London. ISBN1-86176-032-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Rif Winfield (2005). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. London. ISBN1-86176-246-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
David Lyon (1997). The Sailing Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy, Built, Purchased and Captured, 1688–1860. London. ISBN0-85177-864-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Robert Malcomson (2001). Warships of the Great Lakes: 1754–1834. Annapolis. ISBN1-55750-910-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Robert Malcomson (1998). Lords of the Lake. Annapolis. ISBN1-55750-532-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Jonathan Moore (2006). Archaeological and Historical Investigations of Three War of 1812 Wrecks at Kingston, Ontario: HMS St. Lawrence, HMS Kingston and HMS Burlington: Report for Province of Ontario Licence to Conduct Archaeological Exploration or Fieldwork 1999-096 at Sites BbGd-6, BbGc-45 and BbGc-46. Ottawa. ISBN0-9781712-0-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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