USS General Pike was a corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

 in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, which took part in the Engagements on Lake Ontario

Engagements on Lake Ontario

The Engagements on Lake Ontario encompass the prolonged naval contest for control of the lake during the War of 1812. Few actions were fought, none of which had decisive results, and the contest essentially became a naval building race, sometimes referred to sarcastically as the "Battle of the...

 during the Anglo-American War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

. She was named for Brigadier General Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Pike

Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...

, who was killed by an exploding enemy magazine at the Battle of York

Battle of York

The Battle of York was a battle of the War of 1812 fought on 27 April 1813, at York, Upper Canada . An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lake shore to the west, defeated the defending British force and captured the town and dockyard...

 on 26 April 1813.

The ship was laid down on 9 April 1813 at Sackets Harbor, New York

Sackets Harbor, New York

Sackets Harbor is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,386 at the 2000 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 19th century.The Village of Sackets Harbor is within the western part of the...

 by Henry Eckford

Henry Eckford (shipbuilder)

Henry Eckford was a Scottish-born shipbuilder, naval architect, industrial engineer, and entrepreneur who worked for the United States Navy and the navy of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century.-Early life:...

, a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 shipbuilder who supervised the construction of warships on Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...

. The ship was roughly the same dimensions as the frigate USS Essex

USS Essex (1799)

The first USS Essex of the United States Navy was a 36-gun or 32-gun sailing frigate that participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812, during which she was captured by the British in 1814 and served as HMS Essex until sold at public auction on 6 June...

, and the largest yet built on any of the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

. From the outset, Commodore Isaac Chauncey

Isaac Chauncey

Isaac Chauncey was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:Chauncey, born in Black Rock, Connecticut, 20 February 1779, was appointed a Lieutenant in the Navy from 17 September 1798...

, the American naval commander on the lakes, wanted the new ship to be armed with a broadside of long guns

Naval long gun

In historical naval usage, a long gun was the standard type of cannon mounted by a sailing vessel, so called to distinguish it from the much shorter carronades....

 with longer range than the carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s mounted on most of the vessels of the opposing British squadron. The Pike was therefore fitted with 26 of the Pattern 1794 24-pounder long guns originally fitted to the USS Constitution

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...

, but since replaced. Two of these guns were mounted on circles on the topgallant forecastle (a platform above the forward gun deck) and the poop deck, and could fire on either broadside.

On 29 May, the British under Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost

George Prevost

Sir George Prévost, 1st Baronet was a British soldier and colonial administrator. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the eldest son of Swiss French Augustine Prévost, he joined the British Army as a youth and became a captain in 1784. Prévost served in the West Indies during the French Revolutionary...

 and Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo

James Lucas Yeo

Sir James Lucas Yeo KCB was a British naval commander who served in the War of 1812.Yeo was born in Southampton on 7 October 1782, and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 10. He first saw action as a lieutenant aboard a brig in the Adriatic Sea, and distinguished himself during the...

 attacked Sackets Harbor, intending to destroy the General Pike before it could be launched. During the resulting Battle of Sackett's Harbor

Battle of Sackett's Harbor

The Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor or simply the Battle of Sacket's Harbor, took place on 29 May 1813, during the War of 1812. A British force was transported across Lake Ontario and attempted to capture the town, which was the principal dockyard and base for the American naval squadron on the lake...

, the Americans feared that the town was about to be captured and prematurely set fire to the General Pike and vast quantities of stores. The British called off the attack at this point, and the ship was saved (although $500,000 worth of materials was destroyed).

Service history

The General Pike was launched on 12 June. Master Commandant

Master Commandant

Master commandant was a rank within the early United States Navy. The rank of master commandant was slightly higher than lieutenant, and a master commandant would often command warships too small to justify the command of a full captain. In the United States Navy, the rank was shortened to...

 Arthur Sinclair

Arthur Sinclair

Commodore Arthur Sinclair was an early American naval hero, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War and in the War of 1812...

 was appointed to command. The fitting out and setting up of rigging was delayed by the loss of the stores during the earlier battle but the ship was made ready to sail by July and joined Chauncey's squadron on 21 July. From then until the end of the year, the General Pike usually served as Chauncey's flagship. It sailed to the head of Lake Ontario, arriving off Niagara

Niagara River

The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...

 on 24 July. While cruising the lake, the General Pike engaged British ships under Commodore Yeo in an indecisive battle on 10–11 August.

General Pike returned to Sackets Harbor on 13 August and provisioned before returning to the head of the lake to search out British ships. After almost a month of manoeuvering and stalking to gain an advantage over the British, the ship was engaged in a brief encounter against the British off the mouth of the Genesee River

Genesee River

The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....

 on 11 September. On 28 September the two forces again met at York Bay, and engaged in a fierce, but though ultimately still indecisive, battle. As Chauncey had hoped and Yeo had feared, the heavy broadside of the General Pike partly dismasted Yeo's flagship, the sloop of war Wolfe. The British squadron immediately fled downwind into Burlington Bay

Burlington Bay

Burlington Bay, known more commonly as Hamilton Harbour, lies on the western tip of Lake Ontario, bounded on the northwest by the City of Burlington, on the south by the City of Hamilton, and on the east by Hamilton Beach and Burlington Beach...

. They could not be overtaken, as many of the fastest American vessels were towing the slowest schooners to prevent them being left behind. The General Pike was towing the schooner Asp

USS Asp (1812)

The first Asp was a schooner in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Asp, the former British merchant vessel Elizabeth, was captured on Lake Ontario in 1812 by the schooner , purchased by the Navy from the prize court: outfitted; and commissioned on 6 February 1813, Lt...

, and Chauncey refused to cast loose the tow during the chase. Chauncey called off the chase when the British anchored in Burlington Bay, and the rising wind threatened to drive both squadrons onto the lee shore

Lee shore

The terms lee shore and windweather or ward shore are nautical terms used to describe a stretch of shoreline. A lee shore is one that is to the lee side of a vessel - meaning the wind is blowing towards it. A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea...

, which was British territory.

The General Pike had inflicted heavy damage, but because the British fire had been concentrated on it, had also suffered severely. The mizzen topmast had been brought down by the Wolfe, and during the pursuit, the main topgallant mast had also fallen and the rigging of the foremast and bowsprit had been damaged. There were several hits below the waterline forward, and a cannon had exploded, killing or wounding twenty men and damaging the topgallant forecastle. Four other guns also were badly cracked and threatened to burst.

After returning to Sackett's Harbor for repairs early in October, the General Pike supported troop movements against the British at the lower end of Lake Ontario until mid-November when it returned to the Niagara Peninsula

Niagara Peninsula

The Niagara Peninsula is the portion of Southern Ontario, Canada lying between the south shore of Lake Ontario and the north shore of Lake Erie. It stretches from the Niagara River in the east to Hamilton, Ontario in the west. The population of the peninsula is roughly 1,000,000 people...

 to cover the transfer of American troops from Fort Niagara

Fort Niagara

Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France in North America. It is located near Youngstown, New York, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at its mouth, on Lake Ontario.-Origin:...

 to Sackett's Harbor. It remained at Sackett's Harbor during the winter months. Sinclair had received promotion to Captain during the year and asked for an independent command. He was later appointed to command on Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

. His replacement in command of the General Pike was Master Commandant William Crane.

Throughout the remainder of the War of 1812, General Pike continued to operate with Chauncey's squadron, although no longer as flagship once Chauncey had commissioned two larger frigates. After the British withdrew blockading ships from Sackett's Harbor early in June 1814, the Pike joined other American ships in a counter-blockade of the British squadron at Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

. The American force kept Yeo's ships confined to Kingston harbor, and General Pike cruised Lake Ontario freely from the head of the St. Lawrence River to Sackett's Harbor until October, when the American squadron withdrew into base.

Following the end of the war, the Pike was laid up at Sackett's Harbor and was sold in 1825.