''Governor Simcoe'' was a merchant

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

launched in 1793. The Provincial Marine acquired her in 1813 and renamed her after the British naval officer

Sir Sidney Smith Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (21 June 176426 May 1840) was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral. Smith was known for his of ...

. She saw service on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

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.

Description

The vessel was constructed with the sail plan of a

for service on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. The schooner measured 137

tons burthen Builder's Old Measurement (BOM, bm, OM, and o.m.) is the method used in England from approximately 1650 to 1849 for calculating the cargo capacity of a ship. It is a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity. It estimated the tonnage of a ship bas ...

and was long at the

gundeck The term gun deck used to refer to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. The term is generally applied to decks enclosed under a roof; smaller and unrated vessels carried their guns on ...

and had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of .Malcomson (2001a), p. 327. When in service with the Provincial Marine as ''Sir Sydney Smith'', the vessel was armed with two long guns and ten

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s. After conversion to the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

HMS ''Magnet'', the vessel was armed with ten carronades and one long gun. The vessel had a complement of 75–80 sailors and 29

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

Service history

''Governor Simcoe''

''Governor Simcoe'' served the

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

(NWC) fur trade on

from her launch at

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

, on 29 October 1793. She was built for a group of merchants with ties to the North West Company, principally Richard Cartwright. As was common for most NWC ships at the start of the war, she was then likely hired out as a supply ship for the Provincial Marine and remained unarmed until a survey and refit in March 1813. For some years prior to the outbreak of war, and for at least the first five months of the war, her captain was James Richardson (1759–1832), an ex-Provincial Marine officer. "On the eve of the

Battle of Queenston Heights The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major battle in the War of 1812. Resulting in a British victory, it took place on 13 October 1812 near Queenston, Upper Canada (now Ontario). The battle was fought between United States regulars wit ...

on 13 October 1812 he delivered a shipment of gunpowder to

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

and afterwards returned to

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

with prisoners and the news of Major-General Sir

Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he c ...

's death." On her last merchant voyage, on 11 November 1812 Commodore Isaac Chauncey's

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

(USN) Lake Ontario

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

then patrolling off Kingston spotted ''Governor Simcoe'' and chased her. ''Governor Simcoe'' "evaded capture but ran too closely over a shoal and sank at its berth in Kingston from the damage it had incurred."

''Sir Sydney Smith''

Early in 1813, despite ''Governor Simcoe'' being the oldest vessel on the lakes at the time, the British acquired her (whether by purchase or hire). The vessel had been raised from where she had sunk in Kingston harbour.Malcomson (2001a), p. 122. After a survey and extensive refitting in March 1813 she was renamed ''Sir Sydney Smith'' (alternatively spelled ''Sir Sidney Smith''). ''Sir Sydney Smith'' was not a commissioned warship of the

and so was not entitled to the

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

' HMS'. The vessel was under the command of Lieutenant G. Marjoribanks. Upon Sir James Lucas Yeo's arrival to take command of the British Great Lakes squadron, Lieutenant Charles Radcliffe was given command of ''Sir Sydney Smith''. She set sail on 27 May 1813 with the rest of Commodore Yeo's Lake Ontario squadron. As ''Sir Sydney Smith'' she took part in attacks on Sackets Harbor and Oswego, as well as

engagements An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

against the United States Navy on 10–11 August and 11 September 1813. The squadron returned to Kingston on 16 September where ''Sydney Smith'' underwent a refit. The vessel was brought alongside and using the latter's

mainyard A yard is a spar (sailing), spar on a mast (sailing), mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber or steel or from more modern materials such as aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some types of fore and aft rigs have yards, t ...

as a hoist, ''Sydney Smith''s lower masts were lifted out and re-stepped in order to reduce the weight of the

top hamper A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

, making the vessel more stable. On 28 September the two squadrons came together in Burlington Bay. The

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of the British squadron, ''Wolfe'', was crippled and the British retreated back to their anchorage. The squadron returned to Kingston on 7 October and for the rest of the month, the vessels remained near Kingston. On 1 November, ''Sydney Smith'' was among the vessels sent to harass the American forces gathering at French Creek, New York. Along with and ''Earl of Moira'', ''Sydney Smith'' bombarded the American camp there, trading fire with shore-based artillery. The British ships were shot up and withdrew on 2 November, having suffered one man killed and five injured. ''Sydney Smith'' and were then detailed with bringing elements of the

89th Foot The 89th (Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised on 3 December 1793. Under the Childers Reforms the regiment amalgamated with the 87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Victor ...

and 49th Foot infantry regiments to Prescott, Ontario, with those units taking part in the Battle of Crysler's Farm on 11 November. Following the battle, the vessels returned to Kingston on 12 November. Upon Commander Edward Collier's arrival at Kingston on 22 March 1814, he was given command of ''Sir Sydney Smith''.

HMS ''Magnet''

The Royal Navy took command of all Provincial Marine vessels in 1814, renamed them, and replaced their crews with Royal Navy crews. ''Sir Sydney Smith'' was refitted as a

and renamed HMS ''Magnet'', the Admiralty not liking to name vessels after living people. The vessel, rated a

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

, remained under the command of Commander Collier. On 4 May 1814, ''Magnet'' was among the squadron of British ships that sailed from Kingston with infantry embarked to attack Fort Oswego. During the battle, Commander Collier was given command of the gunboats and earned a

mention in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

for his efforts. The soldiers aboard ''Magnet'' were kept in reserve, only going ashore once the battle had been won. The squadron then began a blockade of Sackett's Harbor, New York, the main US naval base on Lake Ontario on 11 May, lifting it on 5 June. Upon the return to Kingston, Commander Collier took command of and Lieutenant George Hawkesworth was given command of ''Magnet''. In July, ''Magnet'' was one of five vessels that had taken up moorings in the

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York (state), New York in the United States (on the east) ...

to provide quick transportation for General

Gordon Drummond General Sir Gordon Drummond, GCB (27 September 1772 – 10 October 1854) was a Canadian-born British Army officer and the first official to command the military and the civil government of Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drumm ...

's army from York to Niagara. On 5 August 1814 she was carrying munitions from York to Niagara when Chauncey's squadron arrived to block access to ''Magnet''s safe anchorage on the Niagara River. Fearing capture, Hawkesworth drove ''Magnet''

ashore This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as ''fore'', ''aft'', ''astern'', ''aboard'', or ''topside''. Terms * Abaft (preposition ...

west of the mouth of the Niagara River, salvaged what munitions he could, and then set a fuse to destroy ''Magnet'' and the remaining cargo in an enormous explosion which observers said could be heard and felt at York—approximately across Lake Ontario.Malcomson (2001a), pp. 291–292.

Citations and references

Citations References * * * *

External links

Ken R. Macpherson, "List of Vessels Employed on British Naval Service on the Great Lakes, 1755-1875," Ontario History, vol. LV (1963): 173-79
{{DEFAULTSORT:Governor Simcoe (1793) Brigs of the Royal Navy War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom Great Lakes ships War of 1812 ships of Canada Ships built in Ontario Provincial Marine Schooners of the Royal Navy North West Company