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Isaac Chauncey
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Born in Black Rock, Connecticut,
Isaac Chauncey had already commanded the privately-owned ship Jenny
by age of nineteen. Joining the navy in 1799, he was appointed first
lieutenant of the frigate President and served in a number of other
capacities until he was appointed commander of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie
in September of 1812.
From his base at Sacket’s Harbour, Chauncey commanded a small squadron of converted merchant schooners and contracted New York shipwright Henry Eckford to build the 26-gun Madison. In April of 1813, Chauncey supported Henry Dearborn’s invasion of York, and then transported Dearborn’s army to the attack on Fort George in May. Upon his return to Sacket’s Harbour, Chauncey found that his base had been attacked by his British naval counterpart, James Yeo and the British Army’s Kingston garrison. Yeo had also undermined Chauncey’s support of the U.S. army on the Niagara Peninsula by attacking and capturing his supply boats at Forty Mile Creek. For the rest of the war, Yeo and Chauncey maneuvered around each other on Lake Ontario. It seems that each commander wanted to wait for the perfect moment to strike. This combination of circumstances however, never materialized. Yeo’s fleet was smaller and heavily armed with short-range carronades while Chauncey’s ships were armed largely with long guns. The two commodores played cat and mouse. To quote James L. Mooney: “both commanders suffered from a common naval malady, fearing defeat more than they desired victory.” Chauncey was bested twice in August of 1813. In September, he managed to trap Yeo’s fleet in Burlington Bay, but using the excuse that he was not familiar with local water depth, Chauncey failed to follow through with an attack and let Yeo escape. After this close call, Chauncey concentrated on building bigger and better ships, the last of which was planked and ready to launch when the Senate ratified the Treaty of Ghent in February of 1815. Under Chauncey, Sacket’s Harbour had become the largest American naval station, building more ships than any other naval yard in the country. Chauncey commanded various ships after the war and finished his career as a high-ranking navy administrator. He died in 1840, leaving two sons who also became naval officers. |
