On the Lakes 187 



best example is furnished by his accounts of the fleets 

 on Lake Erie. The captured vessels were appraised 

 by two captains and the shipbuilder, Mr. Henry 

 Eckford, their tonnage being computed precisely as 

 the tonnage of the American vessels. The appraise 

 ment was recorded in the Navy Department, and 

 was first made public by Cooper, so that it could not 

 have been done for effect. Thus measured it was 

 found that the tonnage was in round numbers as fol 

 lows : Detroit, 490 tons ; Queen Charlotte, 400; Lady 

 Prevost, 230; Hunter, 180; Little Bell, 90; Chippc- 

 way, 70. James makes them measure respectively 

 305, 280, 1 20, 74, 54, and 32 tons, but carefully 

 gives the American ships the regular sea tonnage. 

 So also he habitually deducts about 25 per cent from 

 the real number of men on board the British ships ; 

 as regards Lake Erie he contradicts himself so much 

 that he does not need to be exposed from outside 

 sources. But the most glaring and least excusable 

 misstatements are made as to the battle of Lake 

 Champlain, where he gives the American as greatly 

 exceeding the British force. He reaches this conclu 

 sion by the most marvelous serious of garblings and 

 misstatements. First, he says that the Confiance and 

 the Saratoga were of nearly equal tonnage. The 

 Confiance being captured was placed on our naval 

 lists, where for years she ranked as a 36-gun frigate, 

 while the Saratoga ranked among the 24-gun cor 

 vettes; and by actual measurement the former was 

 half as large again as the latter. He gives the 

 Confiance but 270 men; one of her officers, in a 



