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Launched in August 1813, the H.
M. S. Detroit was the last and largest ship built at the
Navy Yard at Amherstburg Ontario.
King George III commissioned the "Detroit" to be built in honor of a brief capture of Fort Detroit (City of Detroit). She was to serve as the flagship of the British Fleet. The Detroit along with the entire fleet were captured by U.S. Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry aboard the U.S. Flagship Niagara on September 10, 1813 in The Battle of Lake Erie at Put In Bay. The Detroit was brought to Presque Isle, until the declaration of peace. She was then sunk for preservation and raised in 1837 to be refitted as a merchant vessel. In 1841, the Detroit was sold to a group of merchants in Niagara Falls, New York. Sent down the Niagara River as a spectacle and political statement, eventually broke up and went sailing over the falls. The flags from the H. M. S.
Detroit are held at the Annapolis Naval Academy as spoils of
war. The estimated cost to build this ship in 1812-1813 was
$ 2,800.00. |
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