USS Lady of the Lake (1813)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | 6 April 1813 |
| Commissioned: | 19 April 1813 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | sold, 2 February 1826 |
| Struck: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 89 tons |
| Length: | |
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| Complement: | 40 |
| Armament: | 1 9-pdr. |
USS Lady of the Lake was a small schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.
Lady of the Lake was built for the Navy by Henry Eckford of Sacketts Harbor, New York, during the summer and winter of 1812-13, launched 6 April 1813 and entered service 13 days later, Sailing Master Flinn in command.
Built under the personal supervision ot Commodore Isaac Chauncey for 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 Dearborn's troops and sailing close inshore to cover the troops with precision flre. A month later, atter bringing supplies to troops 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 English troops and forced them to withdraw, blowing up the fort behind them.
Continuing operations on Lake Ontario, Lady of the Lake captured English schooner Lady Murray with a cargo of ammunition off Presque Isle, later Erie, Pennsylvania, 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 Captain Sir John Yeo in an inconclusive, 3-hour long range battle in Lake Ontario. She fought again with the squadron 17 days later off 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 dispatches between Sacketts Harbor and Fort 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.
As of 2005, no other ship has been named USS Lady of the Lake.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
