USS Niagara (1813) - Construction

Construction

In the beginning of September 1812, Daniel Dobbins, a merchant on the Great Lakes, arrived in Washington, D.C. to warn the United States government of the vulnerability of the Lake Erie coastline to a British attack. Dobbins had been captured by the British after a surprise attack at Fort Mackinac in Michigan but, was able to negotiate his release. Dobbins was briefly detained again by the British in Detroit after the city was captured. After several days of discussions with President James Madison and Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, Dobbins convinced them that the safest place to build a fleet was in the sheltered bay formed by Presque Isle at Erie, Pennsylvania. On September 15, Hamilton authorized Dobbins to construct four gunboats. Hamilton also granted $2,000 to be used for the construction and appointed Dobbins, a civilian, to the rank of sailing master in the United States Navy. On December 31, Captain Isaac Chauncey, the commander of naval forces on Lake Ontario, arrived in Erie for a day, made some alterations to Dobbins' ship design and authorized him to build, additionally, two brigs. Oliver Hazard Perry was promoted to Commodore in February 1813 and was given orders to report to Erie from Newport, Rhode Island. Perry arrived in Erie on March 26, after being held up in Sackets Harbor, New York for two weeks by Chauncey in case of a possible attack by the British.

The construction of the fleet was largely supervised by Noah Brown, a shipwright brought in from New York City. The keels of two brigs were each constructed out of a single 14-by-18-inch (360 mm × 460 mm) black oak log. Due to a lack of iron, the timbers that made up the hulls were joined using wooden pins called treenails. In place of the oakum and pitch normally used to caulk ships, lead was used. The timbers used in the brigs were still green, as the builders did not have the luxury of time to allow the wood to dry properly. A total of 65 cannons were shipped to Erie to arm the fleet; Hamilton approved the production of 37 cannons by a foundry in Washington, D.C. and the rest were moved from Sackets Harbor. The Tigress and the Porcupine were launched in April 1813, the Scorpion in May, and the brig Lawrence on June 25. The Niagara was launched on July 4 along with the Ariel.

One of the strategic advantages of building a fleet in Erie was that the bay formed by Presque Isle was cut off from the Lake Erie by a sandbar, which prevented British warships from being able to enter the bay. The brigs Niagara and Lawrence both had a draft of 9 feet (2.7 m), which was too deep to cross the sandbar. On August 4, the Niagara was pulled onto the sandbar using its anchor in a technique called kedging and was lightened by removing its cannons and ballast. A pair of 90-by-40-foot (27 by 12 m) barges, called "camels", were placed on either side of the ship. The camels were sunk and secured to the Niagara. The water was pumped out of the camel, lifting the ship. By the following day, the Niagara was safely over the sandbar and was rearmed; the Lawrence was floated over the sandbar a couple of days before the Niagara. During the construction, the area was usually under daily surveillance by the British. On the day the Lawrence crossed the sandbar, a pair of British warships, the Queen Charlotte and the Lady Prevost, observed for an hour and failed to notice the actions of Perry.