Lady of the Lake Sch

Lady of the Lake
(Sch.: t. 89; cpl. 40; a. 1 9-pdr.)

Lady of the Lake, a small schooner, was built for the Navy by Henry Eckford of Sacketts Harbor, N.Y., during the summer and winter of 1812-13, Iaunched 6 April 1813 and entered service 13 days later, Sailing Master Flinn in command.

Built under the personal supervision ot Commodore Isaac Chauncey tor duty as a dispatch boat on Lake Ontario carrying messages to Niagara, the schooner was seldom used as she was designed. Instead she saw considerable action on the Great Lakes throughout the War of 1812. Actively employed in Chauncey's squadron, she assisted in the assault on York, Canada, carrying some ot General Dearboru's troops and sailing close inshore to cover the troops with precision flre. A month later, atter bringing supplies to trcops at York, she joined in the attack on Fort George 27 May, once again carrying troops and using her gun to advantage. She wreaked havoc among the Euglish troops and forced them to withdraw, blowing up the fort behind them.

Continuing operations on Lake Ontario, Lady of the Lake captured English schooner Ladv Murrav with a cargo of ammunition off Presque Isle, now Erie, Pa., 16 June and then operated as a dispatch and supply boat through" out the summer. On 11 September, the schooner was part ot the American squadron that engaged the British under Capt. Sir John Yeo in an inconclusive, 3-hour long range battle in Lake Ontario. She fought again with the squadron 17 days later ott York in a short but fierce engagement that forced the British to retreat into Burlington Bay.

In her last combat 5 October 1813, she assisted three other American ships in attacking and capturing British schooners Confiance, Hamilton, Mary, and cutter Drummond off False Ducks' Lake Ontario, and then for the remainder of the war carried dispatche.s between Sackett Harbor and Ft Niagara.

Following the end of the War of 1812, the little schooner was placed in ordinary at Sacketts Harbor and remained there until sold at public auction 2 February 1826.