192 Naval War of 1812 



Acting under orders, Lieut. Woolsey now set 

 about procuring merchant schooners to be fitted and 

 used as gun-vessels until more regular cruisers 

 could be built. A captured British schooner was 

 christened the Julia, armed with a long 32 and two 

 6's, manned with 30 men, under Lieut. Henry Wells, 

 and sent down to Ogdensburg. "On her way 

 thither she encountered and actually beat off, with 

 out losing a man, the Moira, of 14, and Gloucester, 

 of 10 guns." 6 Five other schooners were also pur 

 chased ; the Hamilton, of 10 guns, being the largest, 

 while the other four, the Governor Tompkins, 

 Growler, Conquest, and Pert had but n pieces be 

 tween them. Nothing is more difficult than to 

 exactly describe the armaments of the smaller lake 

 vessels. The American schooners were mere make 

 shifts, and their guns were frequently changed; 7 as 

 soon as they could be dispensed with they were laid 

 up, or sold, and forgotten. 



It was even worse with the British, who mani 

 fested the most indefatigable industry in intermit 

 tently changing the armament, rig, and name of 

 almost every vessel, and, the records being very 

 loosely kept, it is hard to find what was the force 



6 James, vi, 350. 



7 They were always having accidents happen to them that 

 necessitated some alteration. If a boat was armed with a 

 long 32, she rolled too much, and they substituted a 14; if 

 she also had an 1 8-pound carronade, it upset down the hatch 

 way in the middle of a fight, and made way for a long 12, 

 which burst as soon as it was used, and was replaced by two 

 medium 6's. So a regular gamut of changes would be rung. 



