52 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



detailed to assist the commanding officer. Loring in particular was 

 well acquainted with the western shore of the lake as far as Plattsburg. 1 



Through the rash conduct of his immediate subordinate, Mac- 

 donough had not only been deprived of his two best vessels but the 

 greater portion of his trained officers and seamen. He was once more 

 compelled to seek authority from the Secretary of the Navy for the 

 purchase of lake-craft and ask that both officers and seamen should 

 be sent from the seaboard to replace his losses. A month elapsed 

 before a reply was received. He was told to buy and equip two of the 

 best sloops or other vessels to be procured and twenty eighteen 

 pounder carronades were ordered forward from Boston to arm them. 

 "You are to understand that on no account are you to suffer the enemy 

 to gain the ascendancy on Lake Champlain," the Secretary wrote on 

 June 17, "and as you have unlimited authority to procure the necessary 

 resources of men, materials and munitions for that purpose, I rely 

 upon your efficient use of the authority vested in you." 



He was further directed to co-operate cordially with General 

 Wade Hampton who had recently been appointed to the command of 

 the military forces on that frontier. He was also authorized to build 

 four or five gunboats of the galley type, for which Hampton was in- 

 structed to furnish mechanics and materials through the quarter- 

 master general's department. 



Eventually two large sloops were purchased and altered to carry 

 ten eighteen pounder carronades and one long eighteen on a circle. 

 Macdonough strongly favoured their armament with carronades as 

 he said those guns were comparatively light and could be loaded 

 with heavier charges of grape than long guns of the same calibre. 

 He anticipated they would be chiefly employed against similar sloops 

 or other small craft on which the crews would be unprovided with 

 quarters and consequently much exposed to fire of that description. 

 Much to his disappointment the guns and men required for them did 

 not arrive as soon as he hoped. Until they came he had but three 

 regular officers, all midshipmen, of whom only one had any practical 

 experience, and a surgeon's mate. His remaining sloop, the President, 

 was manned by fifty seamen of the United States Navy, all he had, 

 and his two gunboats by infantry soldiers, each commanded by a 

 captain, who had been detailed to act under Macdonough's orders. 

 Since the opening of navigation these boats had been actively employed 

 in the prevention of smuggling until the loss of the two sloops alarmed 

 the Secretary to such a degree that he ordered them to be retained 

 in the harbour of Burlington until they could be provided with crews 



1 Sheaffe to Prévost, July 25 and 29; Instructions to Murray, July 27. 



