1898-99. | THE CONTEST FOR THE COMMAND OF LAKE ERIE IN 1812-13. 377 
“ By exercising the soldiers at the guns, I hope they will make a good 
hand of it. I trust you will add to the men of the Dover. The quantity 
of beef and biscuit consumed here is enormous, as there are such hordes 
of Indians with their wives and children. I am sure, if you saw my 
Canadians, you would condemn every one, with perhaps one or two 
exceptions, as a poor devil not worth his salt.” 
On the very day this was written, Yeo had tanded two lieutenants, 
two gunners, and forty-five seamen, at Burlington, for the Lake Erie 
squadron, with twelve 24-pounder carronades, intended for the arma- 
ment of the De¢rozt. The guns went no further, but the seamen, com- 
manded by Lieut. George Bignall, late of the Dover, arrived at Amherst- 
burg on the 6th, much fatigued by the journey. In this detachment there 
were no less than sixteen boys, and probably none of the seamen were 
very efficient in gunnery. Barclay wrote at once to say that the num- 
ber was “totally inadequate” to make his squadron effective, but 
“deplorably manned as it was,” unless he received certain information 
that more seamen were on their way to join him, he would be obliged to 
give battle to the enemy. Bignall was put in command of the Hunter, 
and his men distributed among all the vessels, so as to give a few of 
the best seamen to each. 
Having waited in vain until the evening of the 9th, when there was no 
longer a single day’s flour in store, and both troops and seamen had 
already been placed on half allowance of other articles, with the excep- 
tion of spirits, of which there was so little that it was entirely reserved 
for the day of battle, after consulting with General Procter and obtaining 
his consent, Barclay entered the lake with six vessels. His flagship, the 
Detroit, was armed with two long twenty-four pounders, one eighteen on 
a pivot, six twelves, eight nines, a twenty-four, and an eighteen-pound 
carronade. Most of this strange medley of guns had been taken from the 
ramparts of Fort Amherst, and the only means of discharging them was 
by snapping pistols over the touch-hole. Sails, cables, blocks, and 
anchors were also borrowed from the other vessels to enable the Detrozt 
to take the lake. The Queen Charlotte, Capt. Robert Finnis, carried 
one long twelve on a pivot, one nine, and fourteen twenty-pound carron- 
ades. The Lady Prevost, Lieut. Edward Buchan, had one long nine 
mounted on a pivot, two sixes, and ten twelve-pound carronades. The 
Hunter, Lieut. George Bignall, mounted four sixes, two fours, and two 
two pounders, besides two twelve-pound carronades. The Lzttle Belt 
carried one long twelve on a pivot, and two sixes ; and the Chippewa a 
single nine-pounder on a pivot. The armament of the three latter ves- 
