174 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
tho’ less forward, will not be less certain. The naval superiority 
necessarily and effectually includes the military command of both 
shores and it is impossible to appreciate too highly the ascendency 
for which we are contending with an active enemy, stimulated by mo- 
tives equally strong and imperious.’’! 
The keel of another ship was laid down on April 8 and work 
pushed on so rapidly that he confidently éxpected she would be 
ready to launch about the first week in June. 
“She will be a beautiful ship, nearly as large as the Essex,” 
Chauncey wrote, ‘and I calculate to mount twenty-six long twenty- 
four pounders upon her for the purpose of battering the forts at Kings- 
ton.” 
Meanwhile Captain Gray had been instructed to return there 
and make every effort to concentrate the entire British naval force 
on Lake Ontario at that port as soon as navigation opened. He 
had already strongly recommended the removal of most officers of 
the Provincial Marine as none of them were considered fit to command 
a ship of war. He recommended the retention of Earle and three 
lieutenants as sailing-masters. With reference to the former, Gray 
reported: “I am ready to admit that his conduct as an officer has been 
much and justly censured for want of spirit and energy, both in relation 
to his conduct before the enemy and the discipline and interior econ- 
omy of his ship. Butasheis a good private character and an experi- 
enced pilot for the lake and perfectly acquainted with all the duties 
of a sailing-master I consider it more conducive to the good of the serv- 
ice to reduce him to that situation than to dismiss him at the present 
moment.’”” 
He stated that one post-captain, three commanders, seven lieu- : 
tenants, and 445 petty officers and seamen would be required to man 
the vessels on the lake in an effective manner. When the ship under 
construction at York and the ship and schooner at Kingston were 
completed and equipped the squadron would be nearly equal in force 
to that opposed to it. 
The Prince Regent succeeded in sailing from York as soon as the 
harbour was clear of ice and arrived off Kingston on April 17. That 
port was still frozen up but she was able to gain the protection of the 
batteries on shore until the ice broke up. Gray reported, however, . 
that an inspection showed her ‘to be in such a disorderly state that. 
the want of talents or want of attention to his duty on the part of the 
master was apparent in every part of the vessel.’’ 

1 The Secretary of the Navy to Chauncey, March 27. 
? Gray to Prevost, March 12, 1813. 
’ Gray to the Military Secretary, April 13. 
