HMS ''General Hunter'' was a 10-gun

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 ...

of the Upper Canada

Provincial Marine 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 ope ...

then, in 1813, 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 ...

for their

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, ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

. She was ordered and built as a

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 ...

in 1806 to replace ''Hope'', a Provincial Marine vessel that had

run aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

in 1805. ''General Hunter'' was launched in 1807, entering service that year. With the outbreak of 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 ...

, ''General Hunter'' was converted to a brig and rearmed. As part of the Lake Erie squadron, ''General Hunter'' was present at the

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the Briti ...

where the

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 ...

defeated the British and gained control of the lake. ''General Hunter'' was captured at the battle and taken into American service. With the ship's name shortened to ''Hunter'', she was used as a transport for the rest of the war. Following the war, the ship was sold into mercantile service. In 1816, the ship ran aground in a storm on

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

and wrecked. The ship's contents were salvaged, but the wreck was left to be buried under the sand. In 2004, the wreck became the site of archaeological excavations and artifacts were retrieved from the site and placed in museums.

Description and construction

In 1805, the Upper Canada

''Hope'' was

and wrecked. To replace ''Hope'', a new schooner was ordered to exactly the same design in 1806. The vessel was constructed at Amherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard in

Amherstburg Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town is ...

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 ...

. ''General Hunter'' was launched in 1807. The ship had a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of 93

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

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

, with 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 and a draught of . The ship had a depth of

hold Hold may refer to: Physical spaces * Hold (ship), interior cargo space * Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane * Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place Arts, entertainment, and media * Hold (musical term), a pause, also called a Fermat ...

of .

Service history

After launching, ''General Hunter'' lacked armament. Eight

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 were allocated to be used to arm ''General Hunter'' and fellow Provincial Marine vessel ''Earl of Camden''. During her first six years she served on the Upper Great Lakes as a Provincial Marine patrol and transport vessel. In 1810, ''General Hunter'' and ''Earl of Camden'' were sent to

Pelee Island Pelee may refer to: * Île Pelée, an island off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France * Pelee, Ontario, an island in Lake Erie, Canada *Point Pelee National Park, a park in Ontario, Canada *Mount Pelée, a volcano in Martinique *Peleus In Greek mytho ...

to transport cedar timber for the construction of at Amherstburg. With the launch of ''Queen Charlotte'' in 1810, ''Earl of Camden'' was discarded and ''General Hunter'' became the only Provincial Marine vessel capable of operating on

. However, by December 1811, the Provincial Marine had left the vessel's condition deteriorate enough that ''General Hunter'' was identified as a candidate for replacement should war break out. After the

began, ''General Hunter'' was under the command of Lieutenant

Frédérick Rolette Frédérick Rolette (September 23, 1785 to March 17, 1831), born in Quebec City on September 23, 1785, was an officer of the Royal Navy who served in the Provincial Marine during the War of 1812. Biography Frédérick Rolette (spelled “Fréd� ...

when it captured the schooner ''Cuyahoga Packet'' with part of General Hull's baggage aboard, including the disposition of American forces. ''General Hunter'' approached ''Cuyahoga Packet'' on 3 July 1812, which was transporting 40 soldiers. Rolette, with six to seven of his crew, entered a

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boa ...

, rowed to the American vessel which had not heard of the declaration of war, and seized the ship at gunpoint by surprise. This was the first significant act of the war. ''General Hunter'', alongside ''Queen Charlotte'' supported the attack and capture of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

on 16 August, firing on the American defensive installations. In 1813, ''General Hunter'' was converted to a

, and received two 6-pounder, four 4-pounder and two 2-pounder long guns and two 12-pounder carronades, for a total 10 guns. Commander

Robert Heriot Barclay Robert Heriot Barclay (18 September 1786 – 8 May 1837) was a British naval officer who was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, and its North American counterpart, the War of 1812. Life He was born in Cupar, Fife, Scotland, the son of the Rev. P ...

arrived at Amherstburg to take command of the

on Lake Erie in June 1813 and reviewed his group of vessels. He stated that ''General Hunter'' was a "miserably small thing". At the time, the vessel's company of 30 was mostly made up of soldiers from the army.

Battle of Lake Erie

At the time of Barclay's arrival, the Americans were constructing larger, more powerful ships at

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

in a bid to wrest control of the lake. Barclay intended to raid Erie and burn the new construction before the vessels could enter service, but was prevented from enacting the plan by the Army, which refused to give him the troops he needed. Barclay instead set up a

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...

of Erie, intending to interdict the ships if they launched. Barclay put this plan in motion three days after arriving at Amherstburg. On 30 July 1813, Barclay's squadron lifted the blockade in order to resupply at Amherstburg. During his absence, the American commander

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace A ...

launched the ships. Upon his return, Barclay saw the powerful American ships on the lake and the squadron retreated to Amherstburg to await the launch of . At the end of July, Perry began his own blockade, preventing the water transport of supplies between Long Point and Amherstburg. This caused shortages in basic provisions among the British, and also prevented the armament of ''Detroit'' from arriving. After ''Detroit'' was completed, Barclay was forced to shift guns from among his active vessels in order to arm the ship. On 9 September 1813, with ''Detroit'' added to the squadron, Barclay sailed from his anchorage in the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...

to break the blockade. With a crew of 45, ''General Hunter'' was situated third in Barclay's

line of battle The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...

, behind ''Detroit'' and in front of ''Queen Charlotte''. The vessel, now under Royal Navy command and captained by Lieutenant George Bignell, took part in the

on 10 September. During the battle, pounded ''General Hunter'' with more powerful armament, to which the British vessel was inadequately unable to reply to. After was disabled and Perry shifted his command to , the four trailing American schooners closed with ''General Hunter'' and ''Queen Charlotte'' and engaged them. Once both ''Detroit'' and ''Queen Charlotte'' struck their colours, ''General Hunter'' and the other smaller ships of the squadron surrendered. After the war, ''General Hunter'' was sold to a private owner in the United States, then was soon purchased by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

to become a supply vessel serving on the upper Great Lakes and the ship's name shortened to ''Hunter''. In August 1816, while sailing from Michilimakinac at the northern end of Lake Huron to Detroit, ''Hunter'' was caught in a violent gale, and the crew were forced to beach the ship on the Canadian side of the lake at what is now

Southampton, Ontario Southampton is a community on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, and close to Port Elgin. It is located at the mouth of the Saugeen River in the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territory. The size of the town is 6.44 square kilom ...

. The ship

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, seven crew members and two young passengers were all able to get safely ashore.

Wreck site and preservation

The shipwreck site was later quietly salvaged by United States Army vessels which had been dispatched to the site. Following the salvaging, the hull remains were burned and abandoned and soon were buried under the sand. Several ship frames pushed up through the sand of Southampton Beach in 2001 and a series of archaeological excavations revealed the presence of a large part of the hull of ''General Hunter'' buried just a metre or two under the beach sand. A full interior excavation of the hull in 2004 provided hundreds of artifacts. The artifacts and a -size ship deck replica of ''General Hunter'' are on display at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton, Ontario.

Citations

References

* * * * *

External links

HMS Hunter's career

Flag of ship captured in 1812
{{DEFAULTSORT:General Hunter, HMS Brigs of the Royal Navy War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom Ships built in Ontario 1812 ships Provincial Marine