182 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
He had just entered his thirty-first year but his health was already 
considerably impaired by long period of hard service in the tropics. 
Next to him in rank and distinction was Captain William Howe Mul- 
caster of whom Earl St. Vincent had said that he “‘felt great pride in ac- 
knowledging as an éleve of his own.”’ He had served under Yeo for several 
years as first lieutenant and was attached to him by the closest ties 
of friendship and gratitude. Each of these officers had been wrecked 
in a terrific storm in the autumn of 1812. Most of the other officers 
were personally known to Yeo and had served with him in the past. 
The petty officers and seamen were mostly selected from among those 
lately employed in a flotilla of gunboats for the defence of Riga an 
experience which it was thought would prepare them for a Canadian 
winter. 
Yeo’s special instructions were dated a week later. “The first 
and paramount object for which a naval force is maintained being the 
defence of His Majesty’s Provinces of North America,” he was informed 
“we do hereby require you in the employment thereof to co-operate 
with His Excellency, the Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of 
those Provinces, not undertaking any operations without the full 
concurrence and approbation of him or his commanders of the forces 
employed under him, and on all occasions conforming yourself and 
employing the forces under your command according to the requisitions 
you may from time to time receive to this effect from the said Governor 
or Commander of the Forces.”1 
It was presumably anticipated that the venturesome disposition 
of the young Commodore would be kept in check by the prudence of 
older military officers. 
The whole detachment arrived at Quebec on May 5, having made 
an unusually rapid passage across the Atlantic and were sent on at 
once. They passed through Montreal on the 11th and it is recorded 
that the first division of one hundred and fifty reached Prescott six 
weeks to a day from the date of their embarkation at Plymouth. 
The ascent of the river was slowly and toilsomely accomplished in 
heavily laden bateaux. Yeo with the first division, accompanied by 
the Governor-General arrived at Kingston on the 16th. The re- 
mainder of the officers and seamen came on within the next eight days. 
The Wolfe was not yet decked nor rigged and the whole of her 
armament had not arrived from below. The officers loaned by 
Warren had to be disposed of to make way for those specially selected 
by the Admiralty, as Yeo naturally wished to retain the latter with 
him. Barclay was accordingly appointed to command on Lake Erie 
1Commission, March 19. 
