102 Naval War of 1812 



nearly completed, when he promptly retired to the 

 Harbor. 



The equally cautious Yeo did not come out on the 

 lake till Oct. 1 5th ; he did not indulge in the empty 

 and useless formality of blockading his antagonist, 

 but assisted the British army on the Niagara frontier 

 till navigation closed, about Nov. 2ist. A couple 

 of days before, Midshipman McGowan headed an 

 expedition to blow up the two-decker (named the 

 St. Lawrence} with a torpedo, but was discovered 

 by two of the enemy's boats, which he captured and 

 brought in ; the attempt was abandoned, because the 

 St. Lawrence was found not to be lying in Kingston. 



For this year the material loss again fell heaviest 

 on the British, amounting to one 14-gun brig burned 

 by her crew, one logun schooner burned on the 

 stocks, three gunboats, three cutters, and one gig 

 captured; while in return the Americans lost one 

 schooner loaded with seven guns, one boat loaded 

 with two, and a gig captured and four guns de 

 stroyed at Oswego. In men the British loss was 

 heavier still relatively to that of the Americans, 

 being in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about 300 

 to 80. But in spite of this loss and damage, which 

 was too trivial to be of any account to either side, 

 the success of the season was with the British, inas 

 much as they held command over the lake for more 

 than four months, during which time they could co- 



