On the Lakes 191 



ON LAKE ONTARIO 



There being, as already explained, three inde 

 pendent centres of inland naval operations, the 

 events at each will be considered separately. 



At the opening of the war Lieutenant Woolsey, 

 with the Oncida, was stationed at Sackett's Harbor, 

 which was protected at the entrance by a small fort 

 with a battery composed of one long 32. The Ca 

 nadian squadron of six ships, mounting nearly 80 

 guns, was of course too strong to be meddled with. 

 Indeed, had the Royal George, 22, the largest vessel, 

 been commanded by a regular British sea-officer, 

 she would have been perfectly competent to take 

 both the Oncida and Sackett's Harbor; but before 

 the Canadian commodore, Earle, made up his mind 

 to attack, Lieut. Woolsey had time to make one or 

 two short cruises, doing some damage among the 

 merchant vessels of the enemy. 



On the iQth of July Earle's ships appeared off 

 the Harbor; the Oncida was such a dull sailor that 

 it was useless for her to try to escape, so she was 

 hauled up under a bank where she raked the entrance, 

 and her off guns landed and mounted on the shore, 

 while Lieut. Woolsey took charge of the "battery," 

 or long 32, in the fort. The latter was the only 

 gun that was of much use, for after a desultory can 

 nonade of about an hour, Earle withdrew, having 

 suffered very little damage, inflicting none at all, 

 and proved himself and his subordinates to be 

 grossly incompetent. 



