USS Somers was a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

, formerly the Catherine, purchased by 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...

 in 1812. She was purchased for $5,500 from Jacob Townsend, a pioneer and one of the first settlers of Lewiston, NY and purveyor of goods on the Great Lakes . She fought in the 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...

 under the command of Commodore

Commodore (USN)

Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize more than four ranks until 1862, considerable importance...

 Oliver Hazard Perry

Oliver Hazard Perry

United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island , the son of USN Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and Sarah Wallace Alexander, a direct descendant of William Wallace...

 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...

 and Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

, and took part in the capture of the British Squadron on 10 September 1813. She was captured by the British in 1814, and taken into service as .

Service history

When purchased, she was penned up in the Niagara River

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...

 during the spring of 1813 by powerful British batteries which commanded the river from its Canadian bank at Fort Erie

Fort Erie

Fort Erie was the first British fort to be constructed as part of a network developed after the Seven Years' War was concluded by the Treaty of Paris at which time all of New France had been ceded to Great Britain...

.

Late in May, an American joint Army-Navy operation

Battle of Fort George

The Battle of Fort George was a battle fought during the War of 1812, in which the Americans defeated a British force and captured the Fort George in Upper Canada...

 captured Fort George. This victory enabled Perry to get Somers, the brig

Brig

A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...

 , and three other schooners out from the Niagara to the open waters of Lake Erie. The American ships proceeded along the southern shore of the lake to Presque Isle

Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...

, where Perry had been constructing more powerful warships, brigs and .

However, the draft of the new American vessels was too great for them to sail easily across the bar off Presque Isle to Lake Erie. Perry's problem was further complicated by the fact that the British fleet, under Commodore Robert Heriot Barclay

Robert Heriot Barclay

Robert Heriot Barclay was a British naval officer who was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, and its North American counterpart, the War of 1812....

, cruised off the American base, ready to attack any United States ship which attempted to emerge. Of course, the bar, which prevented the Americans from getting out, also kept Barclay's fleet from entering the harbor to destroy Perry's squadron.

Barclay ended the stalemate on 2 August when he sailed away from Presque Isle. Perry took full advantage of the opportunity by landing Lawrence's guns and using two large scow

Scow

A scow, in the original sense, is a flat-bottomed boat with a blunt bow, often used to haul bulk freight; cf. barge. The etymology of the word is from the Dutch schouwe, meaning such a boat.-Sailing scows:...

s as pontoons to further lift the brig. On the morning of 5 August, just after Lawrence had crossed the bar and before her guns had been replaced, the British fleet reappeared. Somers and her sister schooners sailed out and opened fire on the enemy. However, Barclay, not realizing that Lawrence was helpless, replied with a few rounds at the schooners and retired.

Once Perry had both brigs-rearmed and ready for battle on the lake, the stage was set for trial by combat. Perry sailed his squadron to Put-in-Bay where he could threaten the British General Procter's line of supply and communications, keeping an eye on Barclay's ships at Fort Maiden, Amherstburg, Ontario

Amherstburg, Ontario

Amherstburg is a Canadian town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario. It is approximately south of the U.S...

. This forced Barclay to come out to support British land operations on the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers.

The British fleet, reinforced by the full-rigged ship , which had just been completed, emerged from Fort Maiden on 10 September, and Perry eagerly set sail to meet it. Barclay, who enjoyed the advantage of more long range guns, opened the action shortly before noon when his flagship Detroit fired on Perry's, the brig Lawrence.

Through most of the battle, Somers engaged the smaller British ships at long range, contributing to Perry's decisive victory. and Queen Charlotte occupied her attention during the first part of the battle, and and Lady Prevost

USS Lady Prevost (1812)

USS Lady Prevost was a schooner captured from the British during the War of 1812 and pressed into use in the United States Navy.Built in 1810 as the Lady Prevost at Canadian Provisional Marine in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, she was a 13-gun ship named for the wife of General Sir George Prevost,...

 were her principal targets during its closing phases. In the end, the entire British fleet surrendered, giving the American fleet all but unchallenged supremacy on Lake Erie for the remainder of the war.

However, on the night of 12 August 1814, British boats, pretending to be provision boats, rowed up to Somers and Ohio and captured the American ships. Somers subsequently served in the Royal Navy under the same name, as .

See also

• Master Commandant Richard Somers
  Richard Somers
  Richard Somers was an officer of the United States Navy, killed during a daring assault on Tripoli.-Life:...
  
  , a U.S. Navy hero killed in the First Barbary War
  First Barbary War
  The First Barbary War , also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States and the North African Berber Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States...