.jpg) Illustration of HMSSt Lawrence | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | St Lawrence |
| Builder | Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard,Kingston |
| Laid down | 12 April 1814 |
| Launched | 10 September 1814 |
| Decommissioned | 1815 |
| Fate | Sold, 1832 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 2,304+90⁄94bm |
| Length | 194 ft 2 in (59.18 m) (gun deck length) |
| Beam | 52 ft 7 in (16.03 m) |
| Complement | 700 |
| Armament |
|
| Designated | 2015 |
HMSSt Lawrence was a 112-gunfirst-rateship of the line of theRoyal Navy that served onLake Ontario during theWar of 1812. Built on the lake at the Royal Navy dockyard inKingston, Upper Canada, she was the only Royal Navy ship of the line ever to be launched and operated entirely in fresh water.[1] Constructed in 1814, the ship's arrival on the lake ended all naval action andSt Lawrence finished the war having never gone into battle. Following the war, the vessel was laid up, eventually being sold in 1832 to private interests. The ship later sank and is now a recreational dive spot.
Master shipbuilder John Dennis and nearly 200 shipwrights builtSt Lawrence in under ten months, although several sources credit master shipwright William Bell as the designer and builder.[2][3] Unlike sea-going ships of the line,St Lawrence was constructed without a quarterdeck,poop deck orforecastle. This gave the vessel the appearance of aspar-deck frigate. Furthermore,St Lawrence was not expected to make long ocean voyages and did not have to carry the same amount of stores and provisions. This allowed the designers to make savings in the vessel's capacity.[2] The shipwrights constructed a vessel larger and more heavily gunned than theflagship ofHoratio Nelson at theBattle of Trafalgar,HMS Victory.[4]
As builtSt Lawrence measured2,304+90⁄94tons burthen,[5] with a gundeck of 194 feet 2 inches (59.18 m), andbeam of 52 feet 7 inches (16.03 m)[5] – all larger than the 102-gunVictory.
The crew numbered 700. She carried thirty-two 32-poundercarronades and two 68-pounder carronades on the upper deck, thirty-six 24-pounderlong guns on the middle deck and twenty-eight 32-pounder long guns, four 24-pounder long guns and two 68-pounder carronades on the lower deck.[6]
The ship was ordered to remedy the imbalance between the Royal Navy and United States naval forces under the command ofIsaac Chauncey on landlocked Lake Ontario.[7]
At the time, Lake Ontario was effectively landlocked for any but the smallest vessels, due to shallow water and rapids on theSt. Lawrence River downstream andNiagara Falls upstream. As a result, warships operating on Lake Ontario had to be built on site, either in Kingston or in the American naval dockyards atSackets Harbor, or converted from merchant ships already operating in the lake.
Control of the lake, which was the most important supply route for the British for military operations to the west, had passed back and forth between the Americans and the British over the course of the war. The construction of a first rate ship of the line, in a campaign that had been dominated bysloops andfrigates, gave the British uncontested control of the lake during the final months of the war. HMSSt Lawrence never saw action, because her presence on the lake once battle-ready deterred the U.S. fleet from setting sail.[8]
St Lawrence'skeel was laid on 12 April 1814. The construction of the ship took a toll on British resources in the area, affecting supply levels throughout the region during the spring and summer.[7] Projected launch dates in June, July and August were missed and in order to provide all of the gear for a ship of this size, the74-gun ships of the lineHMS Ajax,HMS Centaur andHMS Warspite were stripped atMontreal and the material brought to Kingston.[9]
St Lawrence waslaunched on 10 September 1814.[5] British naval commodore SirJames Lucas Yeocommissioned her as hisflagship, with Captain Frederick Hickey as Flag Captain, in theKingston Royal Naval Dockyard inKingston,Upper Canada.[2] The ship cost Britain £500,000.[10] The day after the ship's launch, an American fleet under Chauncey appeared off Kingston and offered to battle, which the British declined.[3] The vessel did not put to sea until 16 October, making several trips aroundLake Ontario. On 19 October, she was struck by lightning, damaging themast and killing several of the crew. The Americans made an attempt to blowSt Lawrence up in Kingston harbour using a "torpedo" which was much more like a floatingnaval mine. The British drove the attackers off before they could make a serious attempt on the vessel.[11]
After the war ended in 1815, the ship wasdecommissioned. In January 1832, thehull was sold to Robert Drummond for £25. Between May and August, the hull was towed out of Navy Bay.[12] It later formed the end of a pier attached to Morton's Brewery in Kingston and was used as a storage facility by the brewery, for cordwood among other materials.[12] Later, it sank, or was scuttled to prevent its timbers from further decay,[13] in 30 feet (9.1 m) of water close to shore at44°13′14″N76°30′18″W / 44.22056°N 76.50500°W /44.22056; -76.50500. The vessel's remains rotted away until as of 2009, only itskeel and ribs of its frame remain.[14] The wrecksite, along with those ofPrincess Charlotte andPrince Regent, were designated aNational Historic Site of Canada in 2015.[15]
TheRoyal Military College of Canada Museum inKingston, Ontario, has a scale model of HMSSt Lawrence, built by master modeller Louis Roosen.[16]
