]JCRUIKSHANK] COMMAND OF LAKE ONTARIO, 1812-1813 199 
discovered. Chauncey immediately got under sail and came within 
about four miles when he fired a broadside which fell much short and 
returned to his former anchorage. 
Boyd had planned a joint attack upon the blockading force in 
the execution of which it was intended to embark a brigade of infantry 
on board the fleet that day and land it in rear of the British position 
near the mouth of the Twelve Mile Creek. This was necessarily 
abandoned. During the night Chauncey kept all hands at quarter 
and beat to windward in the hope of gaining the weather gage. After 
midnight a terrific squall struck his squadron and overset two of his 
largest schooners, the Hamulton of ten guns and the Scourge of nine, 
which were literally carried down by the weight of their own armament. 
Cries of distress were heard but the loss of these vessels was not con- 
firmed until morning. Out of their combined crews, exceeding a 
hundred of all ranks, only sixteen were saved. Chauncey loosely 
declared that this accident gave his opponent a decided superiority, 
omitting to take into consideration the great concentration of force 
in the Pike. After daylight he edged away, as he explained in his 
official letter, to take advantage of the land breeze which usually 
sprang up in the course of the afternoon. During a calm his schooners 
swept out within distant range and opened fire with theirlong guns. At 
two o’clock a favouring breeze began to blow which enabled the British 
squadron to approach them quickly and they had _ considerable 
difficulty in hauling off to their anchorage just outside the bar at the 
mouth of the Niagara where they lay all night. One hundred and 
fifty additional regular soldiers were taken on and distributed among 
the larger vessels to assist in boarding or repelling boarders, increasing 
the total complement to about twelve hundred of all ranks. The 
Lady of the Lake was detached to Sackett’s Harbour to bring up a fur- 
ther reinforcement of seamen and marines expected to arrive from the 
seaboard. It blew very hard during the night but Yeo still, kept the 
lake. The Royal George had sprung a serious leak by which a large 
part of her powder was rendered worthless and now the Melville 
reported a leak. He still continued extremely sanguine of final success. 
“The Pike is a very fine large ship,” he wrote, “‘but appears to be 
very unwieldy and unmanageable, and from the manner she is worked, 
should judge she is not complete with seamen. The Madison is about 
the size of the Wolfe, sails well and is managed better than the Pike. 
The Oneida is small and sails bad, and the schooners, though formidable 
in a calm, are very contemptible otherwise, as they have not the least 
shelter for their men. 
“My hope is that they may remain out at night when we may be 
able to close with them before they see us, and from their numbers 
they may be much dispersed. 
Sec. I & II, Sig. 6 
