Scourge / Lord Nelson

The merchant schooner Lord Nelson was among the first group of ships constructed for trade on Lake Ontario. Built in 1811 by the shipwright Asa Stanard at Niagara in Upper Canada for the merchants James and William Crooks, she was used gin the forwarding trade from Prescott on the St. Lawrence to Niagara, and return. Lord Nelson was captured under suspicion of smuggling 13 days before the War of 1812 was declared, by Lieutenant Melancthon T. Woolsey USN in the United States Navy brig, ONEIDA. (This capture resulted in a famous international lawsuit, which was finally resolved in 1930.)

The 45-ton ship, approximately 57 feet long and 20 feet wide amidships, was the smallest member of Commodore Isaac Chauncey's American squadron on Lake Ontario. Renamed SCOURGE and armed with 10 four and six pound long guns on trucks, she covered troop landings at both the capture of York in April, 1813, and of Fort George in May of the same year.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 8, 1813, SCOURGE and her fellow schooner, HAMILTON, were hove to with the 11 other ships of the American fleet snear the Niagara River. They were awaiting first light to renew action against the British-Canadian squadron of six ships commanded by the Royal Navy Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo. At approximately two a.m. a line-squall blew across the lake and caught both ships beam on, capsizing them and sending them to the bottom, 50 fathoms below along with 53 hands; there were 19 survivors. This was the largest single loss of life on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812.

The two schooners are unique artifacts dating from the earliest days of settlement around Lake Ontario, when water was the best road. Because they are intact and perfectly preserved in near-freezing temperatures and utter darkness, they are archaeological treasures of international interest. Title to the schooners rests with the City of Hamilton, Ontario; they will be the focus of an international-level museum there.