HMS Detroit: The Battle for Lake Erie

James Pritchard is a professor of History at Queen’s University.

Inspired by the launch of a replica of the U.S. brig Niagara in 1988, on
the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, this book was written
with the encouragement of a group of Canadians who hope to build a
similar copy of the British flagship HMS Detroit. This popular account
is well told from the relatively little-known viewpoint of the losers.

The battle for command of Lake Erie was the most important naval
engagement ever fought on the Great Lakes. Its outcome forced the
British to evacuate the westernmost portion of Upper Canada until peace
was signed, and it produced one of the heroes of the young U.S. Navy,
Oliver H. Perry. His defeated opponent, Robert Barclay, rn—whose
ill-equipped fleet was annihilated on September 10th, 1813—is commonly
portrayed as displaying a lack of judgment; he deliberately engaged the
enemy in an unequal contest, owing to a mistaken belief that such action
was necessary to secure the safety of a British force under the command
of Major General Henry Proctor. The authors portray Barclay as something
more than a scapegoat, who received less than full support from his
superiors.

Although telling the story from a British or Canadian point of view,
and claiming to present a more balanced picture than is normally
offered, the authors made no use of the Dictionary of Canadian
Biography, with its up-to-date biographies of all the participants.

A multitude of maps and illustrations considerably enhance this book.
They are not always clearly identified as to author and date of origin,
but the several splendid paintings by marine artist Peter Rindlisbacker,
as well as the tale itself, make up for this lapse.