USS Lady Prevost (1812)

The British schooner served as a training ship for Canadian seamen on Lake Erie through 1812, in preparation for a campaign to gain control of the Great Lakes and a subsequent invasion of the United States. Under command of Lieutenant James Buchan, RN, she was one of Captain James Barclay’s squadron which engaged the American squadron under Captain Oliver Hazard Perry off Put-in-Bay in the Battle of Lake Erie on 11 September 1813. In a gun duel first with schooners Somers, Tigress, Porcupine, and sloop Trippe, and then, as the tide of battle turned, with Perry’s flagship Niagara, Lady Prevost suffered damage to her masts and superstructure and her captain, Lieutenant James Buchan, was mortally wounded. While the ship's second-in-command, Lieutenant Frédérick Rolette continued the fight, he was also wounded in an explosion and the vessel was compelled to surrender with the rest of her squadron.[1]

Taken prize at the surrender, the schooner was repaired and joined the American squadron on Lake Erie as USS Lady Prevost. In company with Niagara, Scorpion, and Trippe under command of Captain Jesse D. Elliott, she sailed into Lake St. Clair on 29 September to cut the supply lines of the British Army attempting to invade western New York.

For the remainder of the War of 1812, the squadron operated on Lakes Erie and Huron, cooperating with the Army commanded by General William Henry Harrison. Lady Prevost was primarily engaged in supporting American troops fighting the British and their Indian allies in the northwest.

Following the end of the war in 1815, Lady Prevost was burned and sunk by the Americans at Erie, Pennsylvania, but was raised later that year and converted into a merchantman. She was sold at public auction late in 1815.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/Documents/shiplists/macpherson.htm British Naval Service on Great Lakes
• David Lyon & Rif Winfield (2004). The Sail & Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. London. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.
• Rif Winfield (2005). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. London. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
• David Lyon (1997). The Sailing Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy, Built, Purchased and Captured, 1688-1860. London. ISBN 0-85177-864-X.
• Robert Malcomson (2001). Warships of the Great Lakes: 1754-1834. Annapolis. ISBN 1-55750-910-7.
• Robert Malcomson (1998). Lords of the Lake. Annapolis. ISBN 1-55750-532-2.