1 82 Naval War of 1812 



on the ocean our sailors showed themselves superior 

 to their opponents, especially in gun practice, on the 

 lakes the men of the rival fleets were as evenly 

 matched, in skill and courage, as could well be. The 

 difference, when there was any, appeared in the 

 officers, and, above all, in the builders; which was 

 the more creditable to us, as in the beginning we 

 were handicapped by the fact that the British al 

 ready had a considerable number of war vessels, 

 while we had but one. 



The Falls of Niagara interrupt navigation be 

 tween Erie and Ontario; so there were three inde 

 pendent centres of naval operations on the northern 

 frontier. The first was on Lake Champlain, where 

 only the Americans possessed any force, an'd, singu 

 larly enough, this was the only place where the Brit 

 ish showed more enterprise in shipbuilding than we 

 did. Next came Lake Ontario, where both sides 

 made their greatest efforts, but where the result was 

 indecisive, though the balance of success was slightly 

 inclined toward us. Our naval station was at Sack- 

 ett's Harbor; that of our foes at Kingston. The 

 third field of operations was Lake Erie and the 

 waters above it. Here both sides showed equal dar 

 ing and skill in the fighting, and our advantage must 

 be ascribed to the energy and success with which 

 we built and equipped vessels. Originally we had 

 no force at all on these waters, while several ves 

 sels were opposed to us. It is a matter of wonder 

 that the British and Canadian governments should 

 have been so supine as to permit their existing force 



