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1994.HISTORICAL PAPERS
HENRY R. HOWLAND.HISTORICAL PAPERS
By HENRY R. HOWLAND.
I. NAVY ISLAND
AND THE
FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
From that day in 1679 when the Griffon, launched by
LaSalle from his shipyard on the Little Niagara, spread her
white sails to the favoring breeze on her adventurous voyage
to Green Bay and returning laden with furs was lost in some
fierce storm on Lake Michigan, until the British Conquest of
Canada in 1760, the only attempt to follow in the path of
Robert Cavelier as a ship builder was that of the Sieur de la
Ronde Denis, Chevalier of the Order of St. Louis, one of
the most picturesque figures in the story of New France.
From the year 1687 he had served the King as an officer of
Marines and had distinguished himself by his conspicuous
bravery whereby he had achieved many successes that had
won him favor at Court. Twice by the varied fortunes of
war he had been captured in naval engagements with British
fleets, and he knew the prisons of Ireland and England* well.
Much of his service had been on the American coast, with
which he had grown very familiar, and twice he had served
the Governor of New France with excellent tact and judg-
ment and with reasonable success when sent to Boston on
special missions of diplomacy in Acadian affairs.*
In 1727 the Marquis de Beauharnois gave him the com-
mand at Chegouamigon Bay on the southwestern shore of
*Canadian Archives, Series F, Vol. 65, p. 125.
1718
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
Lake Superior, where, on Madelaine Island, which is called
Isle de la Ronde on Beilin's map of 1744, the Ottawa mis-
sion of La Pointe du Saint Esprit had been planted by the
Jesuits as early as 1661.
Here he built a fortified trading post, established friendly
relations with the Indians and with his characteristic energy
began to explore the lake for the copper mines of which he
heard report, and for the better furtherance of his purposes,
some time prior to 1735,* constructed at his own expense a
bark of forty tons burthen, being obliged to transport the
rigging and materials for the vessel in canoes as far as Sault
Ste. Marie. His shipyard was probably at Point aux Pins,
seven miles above the Sault; and in this first of ships on
Lake Superior, with his eldest son, afterwards commissioned
Ensign Denis de la Ronde, he explored the coasts and islands
to such effect that apparently in 1734 he was especially com-
missioned from Quebec to undertake the discovery and ex-
ploration of that famous copper region.
An interesting letter written 13th October, 1735, by the
Governor, de Beauharnois and the Intendant Hocquart to the
Marquis de Maurepas,f gives details of de la Ronde's prog-
ress in these discoveries and mentions that his associate, one
Guillori, had just been sent to Montreal instructed to return
by way of Detroit, bringing everything necessary for the con-
struction and armament of another bark to be built in the
following year, but no further mention is found of this sec-
ond vessel nor does de la Ronde himself mention it in his
detailed report to the Minister of his discoveries, written in
1739, in which, however, he expresses a strong desire to col-
onize the Lake Superior mining region, praising its climate
and its soil, and wishes to build a ship of 80 tons at Detroit to
take provisions and cattle to the Sault, where he would carry
them by portage half a league to reembark them on his pres-
ent vessel.t
This plan, too, failed of its accomplishment, and the bark
first built by de la Ronde seems to have been the only one. It
*1731? See Minnesota Hist. Socy. Col., Vol. V, p. 425.
tCanadian Archives, Series F, Vol. 63, p. 55.
^Canadian Archives, Series F, Vol. 65, p. 125.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.	19
is undoubtedly to this vessel that Captain Jonathan Carver
alludes in his account of Lake Superior in 1768. He states
that the French while they were in possession of Canada
had kept a small schooner on the lake.*
Of the excellent use which de la Ronde made of his bark
in explorations of Lake Superior, and of its fate, we learn
somewhat from a letter written by the well-known fur-trader,
Benjamin Frobisher, to Dr. Mabane from Montreal, 19th
April, 1784. He urges the establishment of a fortified post
at Point aux Pins to command the entrance of Lake Superior,
and adds: “Such a settlement would prove of public utility,
and in the course of a few years give an opportunity to con-
tinue those searches on the North Side that were begun by
the French and recently by Mr. Baxter, the former were
obliged to relinquish their prospects from the only vessel
they had on the Lake, being lost about the time this Country
was Conquered.”t
So, with this single exception, the waters of the upper
lakes as well as those of Lake Erie saw no other boats than
the canoes and bateaux of the Indians and the French during
the period of French supremacy. Many of the French ba-
teaux, however, were of large size and were sometimes
spoken of as “vessels.” La Hontan describes the canoes of
the voyageurs and says: “When the season serves they carry
little sails,” and the British trader Alexander Henry in his
“Travels” (p. 14) says: “The canoes are worked not with
oars but with paddles and occasionally with a sail.”
Such far-seeing eyes as those of Frontenac were open to
the need of sailing vessels on Lake Erie, and he urges their
importance in his letter to the King, November 2, 1681,{ but
the royal eyes were not as his own and nothing came of the
appeal.
Capt. Pouchot, the French Commandant of Fort Niagara
at the time of its capture in 1759, in his description of Lake
Erie expresses his regret that the French had not built suit-
♦"Travels through the Interior Parts of North America,” by J. Carver.
Edition 1779. P- 134.
fCanadian Archives B, Vol. 75-2, p. 75.
J Docs. Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. IX., p. 147.20
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
able vessels for its navigation. He says:	“Lake Erie has
never been circumnavigated by any one capable of giving an
exact account of the bearing of its shores, the depths of its
bays, and the anchorages that occur, or the posts that might
be established to derive advantage from its navigation. , ,
.	. It is to be observed that they only navigate this lake in
bark canoes and very seldom in bateaux except from the Ni-
agara River to Presque Isle. They never go except along the
shores which are shallow, although a little 'distance out it is
deep enough. It would have been useful to have built a
small vessel with which from the month of May to the end of
September, when the weather is always good, to sound and
reconnoitre all the shelters around the lake, and then we
might build vessels proper for this navigation which would
have saved great labor and expense.”*
In July, 1760, Colonel Henry Bouquet of the Sixtieth
Regiment of Foot (the Royal Americans) was at Presqu’
Isle (the present site of Erie, Pa.), with 100 Virginians and
150 Pennsylvania levies, building the royal blockhouse
and establishing that military post, where he constructed
four bateaux and a “Flatt,” which was probably a large open
scow provided with sloop-rigged sails. To his keen vision
“coming events cast their shadows before,” and realizing the
necessities of the near future he wrote on the 15th of Septem-
ber, 1760, to General Robert Monckton at Fort Pitt:
“But a Vessel will be wanted next year I think the Tim-
ber should be cut and the Boards, Planes, etc., be prepared at
the Landing Place at Niagara so as to be finished early next
Spring. If you should approve of it, you will please to let
me know how many of the carpenter^ to send there, and as
no more men can be spared from this place than will carry
on the Batteau Service, Major Walters ought to have your
orders to furnish a party from Niagara to cut and saw the
Timber and assist the Ship Carpenter.”!
Major Robert Rogers’ detachment of 200 Rangers
stopped at Presqu’ Isle in October, 1760, when on its way to
♦“Memoirs of the Late War in North America,” by M. Pouchot, F. B.
Hough’s translation, Vol. II., pp. 157 and 159*
fCanadian Archives, Bouquet Col., Vol. A 8, p. 174.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.	21
take possession of Detroit, and after Captain Donald Camp-
bell with his ioo regulars had come up from Fort Pitt and
had set out from Presqu’ Isle November 2nd to reinforce
the Rangers, Colonel Bouquet wrote to Monckton: “From
the 1st of October the wind has blown without Interruption
and continues still from the S. W. and almost every day
heavy squalls and storms. One of our large Battoes was
staved1 and two of the Rangers with the loss of 33 Bar-
rels of Provisions the Rest arrived in a most shattered con-
dition and the 24th the Sloop after having been twice near
this Post was blown off and I fear is either perished or has
been put back to Niagara. I have sent three times in quest
of her, without success, she has a Boat with her and eighty
Barrels of Provisions.”*
The “Sloop” to which he refers was undoubtedly the
“Flatt” which he had built at Presqu’ Isle for transporting
provisions from Niagara, in its modest way the first of Brit-
ish sailing vessels on Lake Erie.
January 14, 1761, he wrote from Fort Pitt to General
Monckton, who was probably at New York, “Mr. Vaughen
is arrived and left Detroit well supplied till the Spring,
when they must have meat and flour, as they have a differ-
ent number of Battoes if Niagara can supply them they can
do well till the Vessel is built.......I enclose you the
list of Naval Stores etc. wanted for the construction of a
deck’d vessel on Lake Erie, if they cannot be had at Oswego
any Ship builder at New York or Philadelphia can provide
them. .	.	. The Flat is not much hurt and Capt.
Wheeler of the Rangers took back to Niagara the little Boat
left with her.”t
It would appear, however, that the “Flat” had been the
victim of the autumn gales and had been blown ashore, for
there is an apparent reference to this vessel in a letter dated
Detroit, June 1, 1761, from Captain Donald Campbell to
Colonel Bouquet:
“I forgot to mention to you in my last that Lieut. Lesslye
says that the Vessel that was cast away last year on the north
*Canadian Archives Bouquet Col., Vol. A 8, p. 221; the letter is not dated.
fCanadian Archives Bouquet Col., Vol. A 8, p. 232.22
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
side of the Lake might with very little Trouble be made fitt
for service. I do not know if they intend any such for the
Lake, such a vessel would be of great Service from this to
Michillimackinac, as the last is very deep and good naviga-
tion. The French Batteaux we have found here are of a
good size. I have been only able to repair five of them for
want of pitch.”* Once again Bouquet reminded Monckton
of this necessity, writing from Fort Pitt June 20, 1761, “If
we had a vessel upon Lake Erie it would be of great service
to support the advanced Posts, ”t to which the General re-
plied from New York July 12, 1761: “In regard to the ves-
sel the Genl is not yet determined about it as by the Acct of
the Officers that have been over the Lake the Shores they
met with make it a very dangerous navigation, tho’ between
Presqu’ Isle and Niagara I believe it would doe very well.”t
It would appear, however, that when writing from New
York he had not been fully informed of Sir Jeffrey Amherst’s
decisions, for on the 13th of July from Philadelphia, Monck-
ton wrote to Bouquet, “The General had wrote me some days
before that Sir William Johnson was well off to Detroit, to
have a meeting with the Indians (of which I acquainted you
in my last) and that two vessels are building above the
Fans.”*
June 30, 1761, Major William Walters, then in command
at Fort Niagara, wrote to Colonel Bouquet : “Lieutenant
Robertson with carpenters and materials has arrived to build
the vessels on Lake Erie,’ll and in a letter of August 24th the
Major complained that he had been greatly hurried that sum-
mer by various matters, including “assisting in building two
vessels for Lake Erie.”Tf In Sir William Johnson’s diary of
his journey to and from Detroit in the summer of 1761 he
writes at Fort Niagara Sunday, July 26th: “At seven in the
morning I set off with Colonel Eyre, Lieutenant Johnson, my
son, and DeCouagne, for the island whereon the vessel is
*Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 16, p. 219.
tCanadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 23-1, p. 89.
^Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 8, p. 245.
§Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 8, p. 303.
||Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 16, p. 86.
^Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 17, p. 121.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
23
building for exploring the lakes Huron and Michigan, which
island is about two miles from Little Niagara, on the place
where Shabear Jean Coeur lived. .	.	. The Schooner,
building upon the island, was in such forwardness as to be
ready to launch in about ten days, but was put a stop to in
order to build a boat, pinnace fashion for Major Gladwin’s
service. .	.	. Dined with John Dies after which Colonel
Eyre went in a boat to explore the Chippaway river, the en-
trance of which is about two miles above the Great Falls.
In another branch of said river, our people found a great
quantity of pine planks of several dimensions, sawed by
hand, which they used in making the vessels.”
This John Dies, who was evidently the master ship build-
er, had been prior to this in the Government service at Crown
Point and elsewhere during the French War and his name
occurs frequently in the elder (James) Montresor’s journals.
The shipyard was on Navy Island in the west branch of the
Niagara River about a mile above the entrance to Chippewa
Creek where the sawed timbers left by the French had proved
so opportunely serviceable. Upon the French maps Navy
Island is called Isle-la-Marine, and doubtless took its name
from its use by the French when building their bateaux.
In allusion to this also the Senecas called it Ga-o'-wah-ge-
waah,—“the big canoe island.”* Its subsequent use by the
British doubtless confirmed their opinion as to the peculiar
fitness of their name.
While Sir William Johnson was at Detroit the schooner
was launched and taken up the river to an anchorage some-
where near Squaw Island, for upon his return Sir William
notes in his diary Sunday, October 4, 1761: “The land on
the other side of the lake is in view. Embarked at 7 o’clock
and rowed near shore about six miles. Then set off across
for the river (Niagara) where we met Captain Robinson
sounding. It is three, four and five fathoms water near the
mouth of the river. We went on board the Schooner which
lay about a mile from the entrance of the lake in the river,
where the current runs six knots an hour. She has about
ninety barrels of provisions on board and twenty-four bar-
*“The Niagara Frontier,” by O. H. Marshall, p. 27.24
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
rels for Gage's sutler. Dined on board and left the vessel
about 5 o'clock and encamped about ten miles down the
river."
This was the schooner Huron, the first decked sailing ves-
sel to plow the waters of Lake Erie since the days of the
Griffon. Lieut. Schlosser wrote to Col. Bouquet August 22,
1761, that she drew seven feet of water when loaded and car-
ried six guns and was “to be commanded by Lieut. Robert-
son of Montgomery's Regiment."*
On the 5th of October, 1761, Sir William Johnson wrote
in his diary: “Called to see Jno. Dies on the island where he
is building a sloop which will not be finished this season he
says, as he goes down in a fortnight, his men being sickly."
This second vessel was the sloop traditionally known to
us as the Beaver, built to carry ten guns,f which apparently
was not completed and launched until late in 1762.
Whether the equipment of the schooner Huron was in-
complete does not appear, but it was many months before
she made her trial voyage to Detroit and in the meantime the
patience of the little garrison at that post was sorely tried by
the delay. October 5, 1761, Capt. Donald Campbell wrote
to Capt. Elias Meyer at Sandusky: “Noe accounts of the
Vessel being in the Lake, she has but fifteen Barrels of flour
on Board, and none at Niagara, a Poor Prospect for this
Place and the Posts depending." J
October 12, 1761, he writes to Colonel Bouquet : “There
is noe account of the Vessel being come out of the River, she
is chiefly loaded with Pork, there is no flour at Niagara, they
expect it by way of Oswegatchie. §
He again wrote to Colonel Bouquet November 8, 1761:
“Major Wilkins writes me they despair of the vessels get-
ting in to the lake this season which is a great disappoint-
ment to this Post." || And again, 28th November, 1761:
“The vessel is now Dispaired of here and all our dependens
on three Batteaux from Niagara which we expect Daily.
^Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., Vol. V. A 17, p. 116.
tCanadian Archives, Bouquet Col., Vol. V. A 17, p. 116.
% Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 17, p. 225.
§ Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 17, p. 238.
|| Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 17, p. 277.
fl Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 17, p. 304.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
25
No further reference occurs to either vessel until August
i, 1762, when Capt. Joseph Schlosser writes from Niagara
to Colonel Bouquet: “The vessel is out of the River and I
believe already arrived at Detroit,”* and August 26, 1762;
Captain Campbell advises Colonel Bouquet “The Vessel is
arrived but brought only 40 Barrels of Provisions. .	.	.
The vessel is to proceed to Michillimackinac tho’ she has got
but little Provisions on board.”f
On the 4th of September, 1762, Captain George Ethering-
ton wrote from Detroit to Colonel Bouquet: “I was in hopes
to have gone in the Schooner to Michillimackinac, but the
master of her who has been sounding Lake St. Clair is re-
turned and says there is not water enough to get the vessel
into the River Huron, so that I leave this to-morrow in Bat-
teaux.”J September 24, 1762, Lieut. Jehu Hay wrote from
Detroit to Bouquet: “As you have undoubtedly heard that
there is not water enough in Lake St. Clair to carry the Ves-
sel through to Lake Huron, I flatter myself the Inclosed
copy of a sketch of that Lake taken by Mr. Brehm, will not
be disagreeable, especially as you will see the great difference
between the depth of the water at the time Mr. Brehm
sounded it, and what it is at the present as sounded by Capt.
Robinson of the Schooner Huron, the third and fourth In-
stant, which it is suppos’d must be caused by some moving
sand banks, and not by the falling of the water, as some
imagine, for notwithstanding the water in the Upper Lakes
ebbs (as we are informed) for several years successively, yet
the greatest difference that has been known in the depth of
the water here, has not exceeded five feet.Ӥ
It has been generally supposed that the schooner which
bore so gallant a part in the defence of Detroit in 1763 was
called the Gladwin. Parkman speaks of the vessels as “two
small armed schooners, the Beaver and the Gladwin,” || and
his error has been constantly repeated. None of the con-
temporaneous narratives gives the names of the vessels, but
♦Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 18-2, p. 321.
f Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., Vol. 18-2, p. 387.
t Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., Vol. 18-2, p. 396.
§ Canadian Archives, Bouquet Col., A 18, p. 418.
|| Conspiracy of Pontiac, Vol. 1, p. 224.26
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
the evidence of Lieut. Jehu Hay is confirmed by the report in
the Gladwin MSS. of a Court of Inquiry held at Detroit July
8, 1763, when Lieut. Cuyler stated that at the time of the
taking of Presqu’ Isle by the Indians, June 20-22, 1763, he
was on board the schooner Huron on his return from Ni-
agara to Detroit.*
The anonymous “Diary of the Siege of Detroit” makes it
very clear that at that time there were but two sailing ves-
sels upon the lake, invariably referred to as “the Schooner”
and “the Sloop,” and as “the Schooner,” according to that
authority reached Detroit June 30, 1763, with provisions and
ammunition and with a reinforcement of fifty men, its iden-
tity with the Huron is clearly established. Moreover, it ap-
pears by an “Official return July 30, 1778, of all vessels built
on the lakes since the year I759”t preserved at Ottawa, that
the Gladwin was not built until 1764.
Both the Huron and her companion the Beaver, if that
was really the sloop’s name, were of the greatest service to
the beleaguered garrison of Detroit in its defense against the
tireless efforts of Pontiac and his followers during the mem-
orable siege. With their guns they could protect two sides of
the fort, and leaving their anchorage as they did on several
occasions they could and did carry terror to the Indian
camps. The savages tried to destroy them by twice sending
down blazing fire rafts which fortunately floated past them
without doing injury. On the 13th of August, 1763, both
the Huron and the Beaver sailed for Niagara to procure
much-needed supplies and reinforcements and reached their
destination safely. On the night of the 3d of September the
Huron returning loaded with provisions, entered the Detroit
River. Her master’s name was Horst, the mate’s name was
Jacobs and they had a crew of ten men. With them were
six Iroquois Indians, supposed to be friendly, who were un-
wisely set ashore in the morning and beyond doubt went at
once to Pontiac, for after nightfall of September 4th, when
anchored about nine miles below the fort, the schooner was
attacked by 350 Indians in their birch canoes. The
*Gladwin?s MSS., Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Socy. Col., Vol. 27, p. 637,
tCanadian Archives, Haidimand Col., B 144, p. 97.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
27
crew made a gallant defense, but the captain and two
of his men were killed, four were seriously wounded
and the vessel would have been captured had not the mate
Jacobs called out to blow up the schooner. This caused a
panic among the savages, who escaped as best they could,
not daring to renew the attack, and on the following day,
September 5th, the Huron reached the fort. General Am-
herst caused a “Relation of the Gallant Defense” of the
schooner to be published in the New York papers and or-
dered a medal to be struck and presented to each of the men.
The sloop Beaver was less fortunate than her consort.
She sailed from the Niagara River about the 26th or 27th of
August, 1763, with provisions and supplies, “with about
eighteen officers and men of the 17th and 46th Regiments”
under command of Captain Hope (17th) and Lieutenant
(afterwards Captain) John Montresor of the Engineers,
whose well-known name now appears for the first time in
the history of the Niagara frontier.*
She had brought with her from Detroit a lad of seventeen
named John Rutherford, whose experiences as related by
himself furnish one of the most interesting episodes in the
story of Pontiac's war. He was a nephew of Walter Ruther-
ford of New York, a partner in the trading firm of Living-
ston, Rutherford & Syme of Detroit, and had been sent by
his uncle in charge of goods for James Sterling, the manag-
ing partner at that post. At the outbreak of hostilities he
had been captured by the savages and adopted by a Chippewa
chief. After having been purchased from his master by a
French habitant, one Antoine Cuillierier, moved by his
friendship for Sterling, who, after the war ended, married
his daughter Angelique, the lad was again made captive, but
aided by a Frenchman whom Sterling had bribed, he escaped
to the fort, much to his own joy and' that of his friends.
When the Beaver sailed for Niagara Sterling had obtained
leave from Major Gladwin to have some goods for his firm
brought back by her from Niagara and requested, young
Rutherford to take charge of them. “Being anxious,” he
^Letter Genl. Amherst to Col. Bouquet, September 25, 1763. Canadian
Archives, Bouquet Col., A 4, p. 413.NAVY ISLAND AND THE
says, “to do what office was in my power, for the benefit of
a company with which my uncle was connected, I agreed to
run the hazard of the undertaking and accordingly em-
barked on board the ship.” His story of the ill-fated return
voyage is graphic. “We had only set sail one day, when the
vessel sprang a leak, and was half filled with water before it
was observed. The pumps were all set agoing, but were of
little use, so after having thrown all the heavy artillery and
some other things overboard, we found that the only way to
save ourselves was to crowd sail to the land and run the ves-
sel ashore; but it was the opinion of all that she would go to
the bottom before this could be effected. While dread and
consternation were depicted on the countenance of every one,
I was surprised to find myself the least moved on the occa-
sion, which must have been owing to my having been so
much exposed and inured to danger some time previous. At
a time when all were agitated in a lesser or greater degree,
some stripping to swim, others cursing, swearing and upbraid-
ing their companions for not working enough at the pumps,
others praying, besides some who were drinking, I looked
calmly on the scene, after I had become conscious I could be
of no more use. When we were at the worst, and expecting
every one to go down, one boat which was our last hope
broke adrift; then, indeed, our situation was a dismal one.
The cries and shrieks of a naval officer’s lady with three
children affected me much more than my own condition. It
was really a piteous sight; the mother held two of her chil-
dren in her arms, while the other little innocent was making
a fruitless attempt to stop the water with her hands which
was running into the cabin, and already flooded it to the
depth of several inches. ‘She did this/ she said, ‘to prevent
the water from drowning her mamma/ At last, to the inex-
pressible joy of all on board, the vessel struck upon a sand
bank within fifty yards of the shore. The difficulty now was
how to be conveyed to land, which it was desirable should be
done with immediate haste, as we every moment dreaded
being dashed to pieces by the violence of the surf of the lake.
In this situation we should have been much at a loss, had
not Captain Montresor of the Engineers, bravely undertakenFIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
29
to swim ashore to endeavor to bring off the boat which had
stranded there. The distance was considerable and the
waves running high and there was much danger of Indians
being there on the watch; he, nevertheless, accomplished the
bold adventure, and brought off the boat, by which means we
all got safely on the shore.”*
Here they made a rudely fortified camp with a breastwork,
maintaining themselves against straggling parties of Indi-
ans until Captain Gavin Cochrane (6oth) with boats and as-
sistance reached them from Niagara. Rutherford says that
they finally “marched over the carrying place at the Falls
just three days after the Indians had defeated our troops in
a rencontre. We saw about eighty dead bodies, unburied,
scalped and sadly mangled.” This would fix the date of
their return as September 16, 1763, the massacre at the
Devil’s Hole having occurred September 13th, and is not
consistent with his statement that they were detained at their
fortified camp twenty-four days, for the wreck of the Beaver
is stated by General Amherst to have occurred August 28th f
and the “Diary of the Siege of Detroit” states, “October 3d.
The Schooner again returned to the Fort, in her came Capt.
Montresor who informed us that the Sloop was lost the 28th
of August between Presqu’ Isle and Niagara and the Provi-
sions and Guns were all lost except 185 Barrels which they
brought in the Schooner; the Rigging was all carried to Ni-
agara.”
A letter from Colin Andrews to Sir William Johnson is
dated “Cat Fish Creek, fourteen miles in Lake Erie Sept.
9th, 1763,” and states, “The 8th ultimo we have been cast
away at this place.”J This was apparently simply a clerical
error in writing the date. Mr. O. H. Marshall identifies this
location of the wreck of the Beaver as being near the mouth
of Eighteen Mile Creek, where in 1811 remains of an old
^Rutherford’s Narrative, Transactions Canadian Institute, September, 1893,
p. 229. See also Publications Buffalo Historical Society, Vol. V., pp. 1-4.
f Amherst to Bouquet, September 25, 1763; Can. Archives, Bouquet Col.,
A 4, p. 413.
t Unpublished MSS. Sir Wm. Johnson, in N. Y. State Library, Vol. VII.,
p. 142.30
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
stockade were discovered and where on the beach close at
hand', two small cannon were found.*
As to the subsequent career of the schooner Huron the
records are silent. With the raising of the siege of Detroit
she disappears from view and as no mention is made of her
in the following year, it seems probable that like her consort,
she, too, was wrecked and that both of these vessels, the first
ships to sail Lake Erie since the Griffon’s voyage, in each
case after a brave service sadly ended, found their graves
beneath its stormy waters, as have so many that have fol-
lowed them in the growth from those small beginnings, of
the mighty commerce of our lakes to-day. Both the Huron
and the Beaver had practically demonstrated the need of
more vessels of a like character for lake service and the Navy
Island shipyard was a busy spot in the autumn of 1763 and
throughout the following year.
October 29, 1763, General Amherst wrote from New
York to General Bradstreet: “1 arrived here on Thursday
morning and gave Immediate Orders for getting Ready the
Iron Work for the Schooners that are Intended to be Built
for the Service of Lake Erie &c. A sufficiency for one of 60
Tons, with the Rigging, will be sent on Saturday next ; &
Preparation shall be made for two more and sent up as fast
as Possible ; I need not Desire You to Forward the whole in
the best manner you can/’f
The schooner Victory was apparently the first of these
new ships from the Navy Island shipyard. According to the
“Official return July 30th, 1778,” previously mentioned, the
Victory carried six guns and the work of her construction
was so expedited that she was launched before the close of
navigation in 1763, and at once made her first voyage to De-
troit, where she wintered. In April, 1764, Captain John
Montresor was ordered to Niagara to construct defensive
works along the portage and incidentally to “entrench the
Navy Yard,” and in his Journal under date of May 6th he
mentions that “the Schooner Victory sailed from Detroit
* Publications Buffalo Hist. Socy., Vol. I., p. 212.
f Unpublished MSS., Bradstreet & Amherst, N. Y. State Library, p. 141.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.
31
April 20th,” and added that “the river of Detroit was open
the first day of March.”
According to the “Official return” (1778) a sloop of
eight guns had been built at Navy Island in 1763, and Mon-
tresor's journal gives credence to this statement. May 5,
1764, while at Oswego, he notes the arrival of two vessels
from Niagara bringing accounts “that the Sloop.........
had arrived from Detroit loaded and departed back from
thence,” and while at Niagara his journal evidently refers to
the same vessel in an entry Tune 12, 1764, “Sailed the Sloop
to the Detroit.”
June 20th' his journal states: “Two vessels now launched
from Navy Island and the 3rd on the Point. By advice from
the Rapids the Schooner first launched got safe up the
Rapids and into Lake Erie.”
June 27th, “The Schooner (the second) is at the foot of
the Rapids yet. The 2 new Schooners carry 200 Barrels each
and the old one 200, which makes 1100 each trip.”
July 2nd, “The 2d Schooner got into Lake Erie.”
July 3rd, “The Schooner that got up the Rapids last
pight into the Lake was hauled up by 150 men without the
benefit of either wind or the Capstans and loaded with Three
Hundred Barrels of Provisions for Detroit.” According to
the “Official return,” these were the schooner Gladwin of
eight guns and the schooner Boston with a similar arma-
ment. Montresor’s journal states that the Gladwin sailed for
Detroit July 4th and returned to Fort Erie July 19th. The
Boston was at Detroit July 27th, but perhaps upon her second
voyage. In the meantime the sloop Royal Charlotte of ten
guns, had been launched from Navy Island and sailed for the
river entrance July 4th. She was built, Montresor said,
“chiefly for the navigation of Lake Huron.”
All of these vessels were kept busily employed during the
year 1764. While Montresor was at Detroit, whither he had
accompanied Bradstreet’s expedition, he notes in his journal
September 19th, that “the Sloops and 2 Schooners” were
anchored by the fort and that the Gladwin had been sent to
Michillimackinac with provisions. The “Diary of the Siege
of Detroit” mentions under date of October 20, 1764: “This82
NAVY ISLAND AND THE
day the Sloop Charlotte sail’d for Fort Erie with 21 Packs of
Peltry; being the last of 1464 Packs that were sent from
this since last April.”
The “Official return” states that the sloop of eight guns
built in 1763 (whose name we do not know) was “cast away
in 1764.” It is somewhat curious that the same authority
states concerning the schooner Victory and the schooner
Boston, that each was “laid up and burned by accident.” No
dates are given, but at the close of 1766 both vessels had
gone into winter quarters at Navy Island and January 2,
1767, Sir William Johnson wrote to General Gage: “I have
received Letters from Niagara informing me of the burning
of one of the Vessels at Navy Island on 30th Nov. last, which
was at first ascribed to the Indians, but the Commissary with
others went thither the next morng to view the remains and
made a Report to the Commanding Officer in writing from
which and from the substance of his Letter it appears that a
party of Men had set out before day Light on that day for
Fort Erie and it being very Cold and the Crossing tedious
had probably kindled a fire wch was it seems usual and
which they did not take sufficient pains to Extinguish, there
does not appear any probability of the Indians having done
this, or that they should destroy one Vessel when they might
as easily have burned both.”*
The Gladwin saw several years of useful service. In his
“Travels” Capt. Jonathan Carver states: “In June, 1768, I
left Michillimackinac and returned in the Gladwyn Schooner,
a vessel of about Eighty tons burthen over Lake Huron to
Lake St. Claire where we left the ship and proceeded in
boats to Detroit.”! At that time her master’s name was
Jacobs, evidently the gallant mate of the Huron whose cour-
age had saved the vessel from capture by the savages in Sep-
tember, 1763, but he would seem to have been a reckless soul,
for Carver further states: “The Gladwin Schooner which I
since learn was lost with all her crew on Lake Erie, through
*Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol II., pp. 483, 485.
t“Travels through the Interior Parts of North America,” by J. Carver. Edition
1779* P. iso.FIRST SUCCESSORS TO THE GRIFFON.	33
the obstinacy of her Commander who could not be persuaded
to take in sufficient ballast.”*
This must have occurred subsequent to June 26, 1770, for
in a letter of that date to General Haldimand, General Gage
mentions the “bad state” of both the Gladwin and the Char-
lotte and suggests that their material may be used for a new
vessel.t
‘ According to the “Official return,” however, the sloop
Royal Charlotte “remained in service till decayed.” She was
the last of the King’s ships built on Navy Island, but this
once famous though now forgotten shipyard furnished the
seven ships that were the first of the Royal Navy on Lake
Erie and the Upper Lakes.
♦“Travels through the Interior Parts of North America,” by J. Carver. Edition
1779, P- ISS-
t Canadian Archives, Haldimand papers, B. 19, p. 127.