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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

USS Scorpion (II)

Schooner:
  • Built in 1812-13 at Presque Isle, PA. probably by Noah Brown of New York for service on the upper Great Lakes during the War of 1812
  • Launched, in the spring of 1813
  • Scorpion, commanded by Sailing Master Stephen Champlin, operated with COMO Perry's squadron on Lake Erie during the summer and fall of 1813
  • On 10 September 1813, she participated in the battle off Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie, which resulted in the defeat and capture of the British fleet
  • Scorpion had the distinction of firing the first and last shot in the battle in which she lost two men
  • At the close of the action, she and Trippe pursued and captured the fleeing British schooner, Chippeway, and sloop, HMS Little Belt
  • After Perry's historic victory, the schooner assisted General William Henry Harrison's forces operating in the Thames River area, by transporting troops as well as stores and ammunition captured from the enemy
  • During the winter of 1813 and 1814, she was laid up at Erie, PA
  • From May 1814 to September 1814, the schooner cruised on Lakes Erie and Huron, cooperating with the army in the Detroit area by transporting troops, staking out the flats through the St. Clair River, and blockading the enemy at the Nottawasaga River and Lake Simcoe
  • On 6 September 1814, while on blockade duty on Lake Huron, Scorpion, under command of Midshipman Henry E. Turner, was surprised and captured by the former American schooner, Tigress, which also had been taken by the British a few days earlier. Both vessels and prisoners were taken to Mackinac
  • Scorpion was subsequently taken into the British Navy as the 4-gun schooner, Confiance, which along with Tigress, according to local legend, was later sunk in Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, off Penetanguishene, Ontario.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 86t.
    Length 62'
    Beam 12'
    Rig schooner
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Draft 5'
    Speed unknown
    Complement 35
    Armament
    one long 32-pdr
    one 32-pdr carronade
    Propulsion sail
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    Scorpion (II)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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    Last Updated 12 August 2022